MUNCIE, Ind — The February slate for Muncie Central (6-12) began with a hefty challenge with Greenfield-Central (15-2) coming to town. Having lost two in a row, the Bearcats needed to bounce back, but the Cougars and McDonald's All-American senior guard Braylon Mullins had other ideas. Muncie Central dropped their third straight contest, falling 68-39.
With Muncie Central starting two freshmen, Jaxson Johnson and Carlos Echols Jr., playing against a team like Greenfield-Central could be daunting and Muncie Central head coach Justin Ullom is doing his best to prepare them for these moments.
“We’re trying to give them confidence,” Ullom said. “Sometimes we don’t look out on the court like we feel like we belong, but we’ve got to get them to believe in it because we certainly believe that as coaches.”
Turnovers were the name of the game from the start. During the first few possessions, the purple and white forced the Cougars into some early turnovers. However, they couldn’t score any transition baskets.
After those first few possessions, the visitors flipped the script on the Bearcats. But unlike the purple and white, the Cougars were able to score with Mullins converting threes and buckets at the rim for the blue and yellow.
“[With Mullins] we tried to pick one or two things that we think we can affect because you’re not going to be able to take away everything with a player like that,” Ullom said.
Offensively for Muncie Central, there didn’t seem to be much of a rhythm. Greenfield-Central was consistently in a three-quarters court press to disrupt the flow of the Bearcat offense. With a combination of the Cougars defense and some ill-advised passes, Muncie Central was struggling giving up 16 turnovers in the first half alone.
Even with the struggle, by the end of the first quarter, things were tighter than they seemed. The home team was only eight points behind, 16-8.
The defense for the blue and yellow maintained its pressure in the second period leading to blocks and easy steals. Multiple dunks from Greenfield-Central senior Mikey Johnson got the traveling fans for the Cougars into it, forcing Muncie Central to take a timeout to try and regroup.
“They’re really good and long in their zones and traps and that’s hard to practice and prepare for,” Ullom said. “Because getting out there and doing it is another thing.”
By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the lead had swelled to 21 points, 36-15, but there was still no sign of offense from the home squad.
In the second half, there wasn’t much change in momentum from the first. Coming out of the locker room, the Bearcats felt like they could make a run to try to draw things closer, but the length and pressure of the Cougar defense was relentless.
“There wasn’t anything unexpected,” Ullom said. “It’s hard to replicate their length and athleticism in our practices and I think that played into a lot of our turnovers.”
Midway through the third quarter, there was jawing back and forth from both sides after some fouls. The officials had to step in a couple times to ensure things remained calm and didn’t get out of hand.
For the purple and white, the jawing stemmed from the frustration of the game, not being able to gain any traction offensively or contain the offense of the blue and yellow. The Bearcats have faced some top competition in recent games which has challenged them.
“We’ve played two of the top five teams in our last three games,” Ullom said. “I thought we really competed for long stretches but turned the ball over too much.”
Muncie Central will host conference rival Marion (6-7) Feb. 6. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
Contact David Moore with comments at david.moore@bsu.edu or on X @gingninj63
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