After falling to Buffalo at home on Jan. 24, Ball State (15-7, 6-3 MAC) won back-to-back games on the road, giving them more wins than they had in total last season (15).
First, they went to Dekalb, Illinois, to defeat Northern Illinois (9-13, 5-4 MAC) decisively.
After a rocky night in which they needed to extend their stay and then an early departure to Bowling Green (10-12, 4-5 MAC), the Cardinals survived on the road for a second consecutive game.
“It's tough to win college road games in college basketball. I mean just look at the road records in our league and then looking at what they are across the country, you see some more wacky stuff," Head Coach Michael Lewis said. “...They made a run, our guys responded. I'm really happy with a road win.”
Ball State opened the game strong, shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26 FG) and 38.5 percent (5-of-13) from 3-point in the first half, even leading by 20 points. However, some baskets, in the end, led to a momentum shift at halftime.
“Things were really smooth for us the first half, we came out with a fight so I'm really proud of that,” Lewis said. “I'm really proud of us showing some toughness down the stretch, it wasn't a pretty second half, it's not always going to be on the road in conference play, but we found a way to win.”
Bowling Green was able to cut the lead all the way down and eventually tie the game. They were able to get the Cardinals into foul trouble down the stretch.
“They attacked us down low and got us in some foul trouble. [Demarius Jacobs] was in and out, that kind of cut our flow offensively [and we] had to go to some different things, trying to piece some different things together with some guys in some positions that they're not normally in and maybe that caused us not to execute the cleanest in the second half,” Lewis said.
Jacobs, the starting point guard and floor general, fouled out with four minutes left to go in the game only up three. Despite this loss, the Cardinals managed to close the game and secure the win.
“Our execution the last few minutes was really good on both ends of the floor, we tried to preach this, to get to the four-minute timeout and then let's go win it and those guys did that tonight," Lewis said.
With the conclusion of this game, Ball State is halfway through the Mid-American Conference (MAC) schedule, the Cardinals sit fourth.
“You get to this point in a season where you're just trying to do whatever you can to figure out a way to win the game,” Lewis said. “Obviously you want to continue to improve and grow as a team, but you're just trying to stack wins, and we wanted to put ourselves in a situation that when the calendar hit February we played in some meaningful games and I think we put ourselves in that position.”
Ball State put the game away with stellar plays from their stars late in the second half.
Sophomore Jaylin Sellers sent a layup that would’ve potentially made it a one-possession game off the glass. Redshirt junior Jarron Coleman hit the final nail in the coffin with a steal and layup to put the Cardinals up nine points with 30 seconds left.
Coleman finished with a game-high 19 points to go with six rebounds and two steals.
Although it was a road game, there were some Ball State faithful in the crowd tonight, including President Geoffrey Mearns.
“Not only are they showing up to Worthen, they are starting to sort of travel around and it is very appreciated, I know our guys like that, and it's kind of fun as a coach is fun to see these guys respond to the rewards that they're getting from playing good basketball., Lewis said.
Ball State is back at home Friday, February 3 to take on Eastern Michigan (6-16, 3-6 MAC) at 6:30 p.m.
Contact Derran Cobb with comments at derran.cobb@bsu.edu or on Twitter @Derran_cobb.
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