There was a sense the Ball State Cardinals really needed Saturday's tilt against MAC West Division co-leader Central Michigan. With a focused defensive effort against one of the nation's highest-scoring teams and an efficient offense performance bolstered by K.J. Walton's career-high 24 points, the Cardinals got it done.
Ball State (11-7, 2-3 MAC) dealt the Chippewas just their second home loss of the season with an 83-72 victory, winning at McGuirk Arena for the third time in the past four years.
There was some sense of relief in the Ball State locker room over snapping a three-game losing streak, but within the Cardinals' program there was never truly any panic.
Sure, there was that uninspired home loss to Ohio a week ago. But the Cardinals hadn't really played poorly in the other two losses -- in overtime against Eastern Michigan and in a tight game at Bowling Green (which remained unbeaten in league play Saturday with a blowout win over Western Michigan).
Against Central Michigan (14-4, 3-2 MAC), the focus was on defending a team that averages better than 87 points per game, good enough for seventh in the country. The Cardinals held the Chippewas 15 points below that average.
"These guys are really well coached, they have good players, and they spread you out," Whitford said. "We had to be very focused, especially defensively, against them. And we were."
Ball State withstood a second-half run from Central Michigan and answered with one of its own. The Chippewas rallied from an eight-point deficit shortly after the intermission to lead by as many as five.
But over the next eight minutes, the Cardinals turned their biggest deficit into their biggest lead, outscoring CMU 22-4 to open up a 75-62 advantage. Walton cashed in two steals for fastbreak dunks to ignite that stretch, and it was all Ball State from there.
"K.J. really played well," Whitford said. "This kind of game is really set up for him because they're trying to press and doing some things that allow him to get loose to the basket. They were doubling the post off of him, and Trey (Moses) did a good job of finding him off the post traps."
Walton finished the day 12-for-17 from the floor, attacking the rim and converting pull-up jumpers. Tayler Persons scored 21 points, and Moses went for 13, all in the second half.
Kyle Mallers joined them in double figures with 10 points, while Tahjai Teague had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
After a series of slow starts, Ball State came out ready Saturday. The Cardinals forced an early Central Michigan timeout ahead by 10 and built the lead to as many as 13 before CMU picked it up. BSU lead 41-35 at the break and 43-35 in the opening minute of the second half before the Chippewas made their run.
Rob Montgomery led Central Michigan with 19 points, while Shawn Rountree Jr. added 16 and Larry Austin Jr. 15.
(Courtesy of BSU Athletics)
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