AKRON, OHIO – Junior Trey Moses scored 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while Sophomore Tahjai Teague added 21 and 10 boards as the Ball State Cardinals defeating Akron 90-77 Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena.
Ball State a pair of 11-2 runs to overtake the hosts for good and went on to post its third straight win. The Cardinals (17-9, 8-5 MAC) have . . .
“We were the bigger team, and we wore them down in the second half.” Cardinals head coach James Whitford said, “I also thought we cut the amount of turnovers down in the second half, and that was key for us, as well.”
Junior Tayler Persons joining Moses and Teague in double figures with 18 and contributed four assists. It was the Cardinals first win against the Zips in Akron since February 28, 2001 (81-62).
Akron (11-14, 4-9) suffered its fifth loss in the last six games and absorbed its third loss at home this season.
Graduate Malcolm Duvivier led all scorers in the contest with 26 points, going 6-of-16 from three point range. Junior Jimond Ivey added 13 with five assists, a steal and two blocked shots. Freshman Eric Parrish had 11 with five boards.
“We thought at the end of the first half we had some self-inflicted wounds that hurt us.” Zips head man John Groce said . “At the end of the day, we had (junior Lucas) Smith, Utomi and (freshman Mark) Kostelac playing just a combined 29 minutes and had ten personal fouls. It was very difficult to match up with a team like Ball State.”
The game was a battle between Akron’s three-point shooting and the inside game of Ball State.
In the early going, UA used the 3-point power of Duvivier. He notched 17 in the first 20 minutes and put the hosts up 34-24 following a three from the right arc at 11:53.
Akron held a 38-30 advantage at the 2:55 mark on two Duvivier free throws, but BSU ended the period on an 11-2 run to take a 41-40 lead at halftime.
UA regained its composure during the break and carved out a four-point lead 49-45 on a three from the left corner from Ivey three minutes into the second half. Again, though,the Cardinals countered with a another 11-2 run to take the lead for good 56-52 lead with 13:11 remaining on a pair of Persons free throws.
Although BSU had the lead, UA stayed within striking distance, closing to 64-61 with 9:02 remaining on a layup by Duviver. It would be the closest the Zips could get for the remainder of the game as the Cards used a 13-2 run to pull away.
BSU’s largest lead of the game was 16 in the final moments on a layup by Moses, who had 13 in the second half. Teague had 14 and nine boards in after intermission.
NEXT:
Both teams are in action on Saturday, Akron takes the short trip to Kent State to face the Golden Flashes, while Ball State returns home to face Western Division leading Toledo for the second time this season.
NOTES:
>>>>> Cardinals dominated the boards 44-25 and the points in the paint 40-28. They shot 60 percent from the field in the second half (18-of-30) finishing the game at 55.4 percent (31-of-56). BSU was 21-of-27 from the free throw line.
>>>>> Akron saw its shooting -- especially from three-point range-- fall in the second half, going 5-of-15 and 11-of-29 for the contest.
>>>>> The Zips committed just eight turnovers including just one in the second half. They had 22 points off BSU’s 17 turnovers. However, only two of them came in the second half.