The Cardinals (18-10, 9-6 MAC) lost the turnover battle against the Rockets (17-11, 8-7 MAC), who committed six turnovers in the Feb. 23 matchup. At halftime, Ball State had eight turnovers to Toledo’s one; the Cardinals finished the game with 13 turnovers.
“It was the fact that they had one turnover at halftime, their offensive numbers were so good it was beyond scary,” head coach James Whitford said. “We couldn’t get a stop.”
Toledo finished the first 20 minutes shooting 62.1 percent from the field, including 6-8 from 3-point distance.
After sitting for some of the second half in the Northern Illinois matchup on Feb. 19 with an eye injury, Ball State junior forward Ryan Weber scored a team-high 18 points. He made a career-high six 3-point shots on eight attempts.
In the previous nine games, Weber has only shot 9-42 from 3-point territory. The 6-foot-6 forward is the team’s third leading scorer with 285 points.
Weber sits behind fellow starting forwards in total points — junior Franko House has 323 points, and senior Bo Calhoun has 314.
“[Weber] has been practicing the right way, and I knew it was going to come back," Whitford said. “I thought he played a great game — it’s great to see [Weber's] stroke come back to him.”
Calhoun had his double-double streak stop at four games as he turned in 10 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Francis Kiapway also chipped in 10 points.
The MAC leading scorer, Nathan Boothe, who had 12 points in the first 17 minutes of action, led the Rockets' hot offensive attack. He finished the game with 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Toledo had a couple of other players finish with double-digit scoring. Freshman forward Nate Navigato had 19 points and four rebounds on 5-10 shooting. Junior guard Jonathan Williams, the conference’s fourth leading scorer, had 12 points.
“I thought they played a great game, and I thought Navigato really hurt us,” Whitford said.
Ball State is home for two of its final three matchups. The Cardinals face the Eastern Michigan Eagles on at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 at Worthen Arena.
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