Five Cardinals Score in Double Digits, Ball State Dominates Indiana State - Ball State University Athletics - BallStateSports.com

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at Western Illinois

12/1/2021 | 7 p.m.

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State men's basketball team returned to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena on Saturday for an in-state matchup with Indiana State. The Cardinals were led by Tyler Cochran with 15 points, as a total of five BSU players scored double-digit points.
 
The Cardinals improved to 3-3 on the season, while the Sycamores fell to 3-4 on the year. Ball State secured its first 20-plus point victory since March 2, 2021, when they defeated EMU by 35 points, 100-65. BSU recorded its first game with five players in double digits since December 7, 2019. BSU scored the game's first points and never relinquished the lead at any point during the remainder of the contest.
 
Cochran finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and a team-high two steals. Miryne Thomas recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He was Ball State's first double-double since Tahjai Teague on March 3, 2020. Thomas also led the team with two blocked shots. Luke Bumbalough notched 14 points and tied for a team-high five assists. Payton Sparks added 12 points and three rebounds. Demarius Jacobs closed out the double-digit scoring with 11 points. The Cardinals had five guys finish with double-digit points for the first time since December 7, 2019.
 
Ball State started the game on fire and jumped out to an early 17-4 lead with 12:37 left in the first half. During the 17-4 run, the Cardinals were a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Thomas, Bumbalough and Basheer Jihad accounted for the BSU 3-pointers.
 
The two sides traded baskets which led to a 24-16 BSU lead with 9:25 left in the first stanza. Jacobs got in the sharp shooting for the Cardinals as he drained a 3-pointer and extended the Ball State lead to 27-16.
 
The Cardinals closed out the half by outscoring the Sycamores 18-10 and took a 45-26 lead into the half. At the break, BSU was 53.3 percent from long range and held ISU to 23.1 percent from deep. Ball State finished the first half shooting 45.2 percent from the field and the stout defense held Indiana State to just 25 percent from the field.
 
Ball State continued the second half where it left off at the end of the first. Cochran scored five of the team's seven points, as BSU opened the second half on a 7-2 run.
 
With 13:19 left in regulation, Indiana State hit a 3-pointer and pulled within 19 points, a deficit that ISU was unable to shrink the remainder of the game.
 
With just under 12 minutes left in the game, the Cardinals received a spark from Kani Acree. Acree assisted on a Cochran layup, before he knocked down a 3-pointer that put BSU up by 24, 64-40. Following a media timeout and an ISU 3, Acree drained a 3-ball of his own.
 
With 6:26 left in the game, Jalen Windham came up huge on the defensive end with a steal and took it coast-to-coast for a fast-break layup to extend the BSU lead to 80-56.
 
Acree subbed back into the game and immediately contributed once again. He found Bumbalough for a wide-open 3. After Acree made two free throws, he found Cochran with an absolute dime of a pass for a layup. On the next offensive possession, Acree hit his second 3 of the game and put the Cardinals up by 27, 93-66, which was the largest lead of the game.
 
The defense continued to be stout as Cochran stole an ISU pass and started the fast break for BSU. On the fast break, Cochran drew the defender to the basket and kicked it out to a wide-open Bumbalough for 3-pointer. The Cardinals went on to win the game by 22, 97-75.
 
Acree finished a perfect 2-for-2 from the field and 3-point range, and finished with eight points off of the bench. Jaylin Sellers added nine points. As a team, Ball State posted a shooting percentage of 54.5 from the field and 53.6 from behind the arc. The Cardinals took advantage of turnovers and scored 18 points off of those turnovers, including 17 fast-break points.
 
Micah Thomas led the Sycamores with a game-high 19 points and had the team's only steals, with two. Xavier Bledson added 15 points. Cameron Henry led ISU with seven rebounds.
 
The Cardinals return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 1 as they take to the road to Macomb, Illinois. Ball State is set to square off with Western Illinois.
 
From the Coach – Head Coach James Whitford
"Obviously, I thought we played a really good game. I thought we got better in the tournament in Florida. I was eager to see some of the progress here and you saw that tonight. I thought we were terrific on offense. I thought we were very good in the first half on defense, not as good in the second half. It was a really good win. I thought it was a big thing in the first half, our physicality around the rim was big. Payton is really getting better defensively, leaps and bounds. I thought he was good on both sides of the ball. I thought it was a huge part in the beginning. They had a hard time finishing around the rim because we were making hard plays on the ball. I thought that really got us off on the right foot defensively. I thought we really shared the ball, 18 assists and seven turnovers are pretty telling stats. One of the strengths of our team is our depth. Depth in terms of who can score for us. You take a guy like Kani, who hasn't really played to this point in the year. He's been practicing hard every day and we decided to go with today. In nine minutes, he goes 2-for-2 from 3 and has eight points. He had five assists and no turnovers. I thought he was good on both sides of the ball. We have a couple other guys that can come off the bench. The depth for us is a real strength. I think we're really working to try and create shots for each other. We're really playing the right way on offense. I think early in the year we were doing it in moments, but we had to learn to trust it. When the game got hard, often we would break down and try to make individual plays."
 
From the Student-Athlete – Junior Guard #23 Tyler Cochran
"I think it's a huge part. When we get stops, we are looking to run. It makes everyone feel good when we get a stop and are able to get out and run, look for guys and score, then get it right back. It was more of a together thing. If we were locked in as a group and communicated, we knew we had the game. It's really all love. Everybody wants to see everybody succeed. Nobody takes it personal when someone has a bad game. Everybody just wants to see everybody succeed, whether it's scoring or defense. Huge shout out to Ace (Kani Acree), he comes in everyday with the same mentality on how he can help get the team better. He came into the game today and gave us a huge boost."  
 
From the Student-Athlete – Redshirt Senior Forward #0 Miryne Thomas
"Since I've been here at Ball State, we've tried to err on the defensive side of the ball. We try to be tough on defense. That's something we come in and practice every day and make sure we have it on point. If our defense isn't on point, we will be in practice until it is. That's something we set the tone for. It's like a self-check moment. If we're running good offense, but we can't get a stop, we have to stay in the moment. We have to run good offensive possessions and we have to do the same thing on the defensive end. We have to make opponents take tough shots. We stuck to our game plan. We played through our defense. It was a heavy communication game, because they played games with their offense. We knew that if we stick with our defense and run good possessions on offence, we were going to get good shots. We're a good offensive team. For our team's identity, we're still crafting our identity. We're a selfless team, we always come together, we always say family, and we always come into the huddle talking about playing for each other. We don't care who shoots, as long as we get a good shot."
 
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