On Friday, Ball State (16-7, 7-3) aimed to make it three wins in a row as Eastern Michigan (6-17, 3-7) rolled into Worthen Arena.
After a game that had to be decided with an extra five minutes, the Cardinals defeated the Eagles 91-90. Here are four takeaways from the game.
Success on offense
Ball State's first four shots were three-pointers. After missing the first attempt, redshirt junior guard Jarron Coleman found the bottom of the basket on his next three. The starting guard went on to finish the first half with 12 points.
Another Cardinal that performed well in the first half was senior guard Demarius Jacobs. After being quiet in the first few minutes, he scored seven straight points.
But it wasn’t just Coleman and Sellers. After nine and a half minutes into the first half, Ball State was 9-14 (64.3%) and 4-7 (57.1%) from deep. Even after cooling down a bit in the rest for the half, they went into halftime 13-23 (56.5%). From the three-point line, they were 6-13 (46.2%).
The Cardinals continued to do well on offense in the second half. They finished the game 33-62 (53.2%) and 10-26 (38.5%).
But one Cardinal who rose to the challenge and finished strong was sophomore center Payton Sparks. After only having six points in the first half, he finished the game with 22 points and 15 rebounds.
Easy mistakes
Even though the cardinals started off having control of the game, they quickly made mistakes that allowed the Eagles to comeback. Turnovers, a shot clock violation and many more mistakes had head coach Michael Lewis pacing the sidelines.
In one such instance, a travel was called on Ball State. Lewis was not pleased as he threw a water bottle at one of the bench chairs.
The Cardinals defense also faltered late in the first half. The home team gave up multiple open looks to the visitors including jump shots and an alley-oop. Ball State went into halftime with ten turnovers.
On the plus side, Ball State took better care of the basketball in the second half and in overtime. They only turned the ball over three times for the rest of the game.
Didn’t allow a singular performance damper their win
Eastern Michigan’s sophomore forward Emoni Bates is one of the highest scouted players in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The sophomore forward went on a tear and had 35-points for his team.
But even with having the most points in the game, the Cardinals did not cave and played team basketball to defeat the Eagles.
The atmosphere
Lewis asked fans through social media to show up. They obviously received his demand. The crowd the whole night was an impact in this game.
Whether it was a Cardinal bucket or a call against the home team, Worthen Arena came alive in cheers or boos.
There were two moments that stuck out. With four minutes left in the game, sophomore guard Jaylin Sellers received the ball and threw down a dunk. The Cardinals fans rose to their feet and screamed with excitement.
The other was when Sparks hit the free throw that turned out to be the game winning shot. Once again, the Muncie people let him know what they thought.
Of course, when the battle went to overtime, everyone stayed standing. Whenever something good happened for Ball State, the arena shook.
In the end, the biggest crowd of the season went home happy as their squad captured the victory.
Contact Zach Carter with comments at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ZachCarter85.
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