Final Statistics
Persons: 19 PTS / 10 A / 4 REB
Sellers: 16 PTS / 3 REB
House: 12 PTS / 5 REB
Teague: 10 PTS / 6 REB
Moses: 4 PTS / 16 REB
In the third game of the Men Who Speak Up Main Event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Ball State trailed Coppin State only once en route to a 79-77 victory Nov. 21.
Ball State led for 39 minutes and 6 seconds before Coppin State took their first lead with 54 seconds left in the game 77-76. Sophomore guard Taylor Persons went to the rim and was fouled and secured the and-one play with 28 seconds left in the game to seal the victory
Persons had a double-double for Ball State with 19 points and 10 assists in 34 minutes of play.
Ball State had 17 assists on the day, 10 of those coming from Persons and five from sophomore forward Trey Moses. One of Moses's assists was on a dunk by redshirt sophomore Tahjai Teague to end the half with a 40-29 lead.
With senior forward Franko House on the bench for a little over six minutes with four fouls, Coppin State was able to get the game within six points, 49-43, with a little over 12 minutes left in the game.
After returning, House picked up his fifth foul with more than 11 minutes left to go in the game ending his night. He played 18 minutes scoring 12 points and had five rebounds.
The Cardinals needed the offensive production like they had in the first half in order to put the game away, and senior guard Ryan Weber and Sellers helped put pressure on Coppin State.
Moses got his fourth assist of the day when Sellers dunked over Coppin State defenders to give Ball State a 55-50 lead.
After Persons hit two free throws to give Ball State a 64-58 lead, Weber hit a pair of 3-pointers with four minutes left that pushed the Cardinals' lead to seven.
Coppin State did not go away easily and scored 14 points in three and half minutes to get their first lead before Persons’ basket and the foul capped the game for Ball State.
The Cardinals' next and final game in the Men Who Speak Up Main Event is Nov. 23 when Ball State takes on Southern Utah at 3:30 p.m.
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