The Ball State men’s basketball team traveled to New York and lost against Buffalo on Wednesday evening.
The Cardinals could not reproduce the results from its Jan. 23 matchup against the Bulls, falling to 4-16 after a 48-69 loss.
Senior forward Chris Bond paced the Cardinals with 15 points, but his team could not pull off its first road win. All-MAC senior center Majok Majok finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds as he had the task of guarding Javon McCrea for the final time.
Freshman guard Zavier Turner finished with 11 points on 4-10 shooting as he wore a spare away jersey for the second time. His original No. 1 jersey was misplaced before the start of the Jan. 29 game at Akron.
Ball State head coach James Whitford called McCrea a special player before the game, and McCrea finished with game highs as he finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
The Cardinals played freshman forward Franko House for a team-high 34 minutes Wednesday as he finished with 6 points and grabbed three rebounds. House has been prone to fouls since conference play started, but he committed just one against the Bulls.
Ball State allowed Buffalo to get to the free-throw line 35 times as the Cardinals committed 22 fouls. The Cardinals got to the foul line 12 times and made half of the attempts.
The shots didn’t fall for the Cardinals as the team finished 19-54 from the field. The team also finished 4-20 from three-point distance.
Whitford said it is easier for Buffalo’s defense to pressure Ball State at home, a common theme throughout the season. Ball State sits at 0-11 in games away from Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals offense has suffered on the road as the players have seen intense defensive pressure, especially on the young starting frontcourt of Turner and freshman Mark Alstork, the latter being held to one point against Buffalo.
Ball State returns home to prepare for an upcoming three-game home stand against Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green. Saturday, the Cardinals will take on the Rockets, which leads the MAC West at 19-3 and 7-2 in conference play.
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