MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State Cardinals and Akron Zips duked it out for 50 minutes Saturday. When the last horn finally sounded after two overtimes, the Cardinals were on top 111-106 in the highest scoring game in Worthen Arena history. The wild contest featured 17 ties and 12 lead changes.
Three Ball State players set . . .
Three Ball State players set . . .
. . . career highs for scoring, led by Tahjai Teague with 26 points. Trey Moses’ 20 and Kyle Mallers’ 18 were also career bests. Tayler Persons matched Teague for team-high honors with 26, giving BSU three 20-point scorers in a game for the first time in 13 years.
Akron, meanwhile, got a massive 48-point performance from Jimond Ivey. Senior Malcolm Duvivier contributed 22 points, while freshman Vishon Cotton came off the bench for 13 points. Daniel Utomi chipped in 11 points.
Ivey also set the Worthen Arena record with nine 3-pointers, finishing 9 for 12 from beyond the arc. His 48 points broke the arena record of 41 previously shared by Bonzi Wells (1996) and Eastern Michigan’s Earl Boykins (1998). On the other end of the spectrum, the Cardinals held Akron’s Daniel Utomi to 1 for 14 from deep.
Ball State improved to 13-8 (4-4 MAC), defeating Akron for the first time since 2004. The Zips, who had won three of their past four games, dropped to 10-10 (3-5 MAC).
“I thought it was a great win. I was proud of our guys. We really competed for 50 minutes of basketball," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. 'We got off to a rough start. It was a mentally challenging game for us. We turned the ball over I think nine times in the first 10 minutes of the game, and then we turned it over nine times in the next 40 minutes.
He continued, "They were really pressuring a denying some stuff, and I think that really affected us. Eventually we broke their back inside. We consistently got the ball in the box and we drew a ton of fouls. Trey and Tahjai went 14 of 25 from the field, and I thought that was a big part of the game.”
Ball State faced its biggest deficit of the day at 63-55 with 6:58 to play before going on a 10-0 run that swung the momentum. Two free throws from Moses were followed by a Persons 3-pointer and a Moses block that led to a runout dunk for the big man. When Mallers followed with a 3 at the 4:49 mark, the Cardinals took a 65-63 lead.
Ball State eventually took a five-point lead on a 3-point play from Persons, but Akron stormed back with an 8-1 run to grab an 81-79 advantage on a 3-point play from Utomi. Persons was fouled on BSU’s final possession of regulation and hit two free throws to force overtime.
The Cardinals led by three twice in the final minute of the first extra period, including a 95-92 advantage with 3.7 seconds left after a pair of Mallers free throws. But Ivey managed to get a contested look from 25 feet at the buzzer and drained it to extend the game again.
Ball State used a 6-0 run in the second overtime to build a 107-101 lead on a Teague dunk with 1:16 to play. Ivey scored five straight to pull the Zips within one, but a layup from Ishmael El-Amin followed by a steal and lay-in from Moses capped the win for the Cardinals.
After not going to overtime in any of the first 19 games this season, Ball State has now played back-to-back OT games. The Cardinals lost 88-80 in overtime four days earlier at Kent State.
As a team, Ball State set season highs for free throws made (33) and attempted (42). The Cardinals registered their second-best 3-point percentage of the year at 55.6 percent (10 for 18), with Persons, Mallers and Sean Sellers each hitting three.
Next:
Ball State will travel to MAC West Division leader Toledo Tuesday, while Akron is at Miami. Both games start a 7 p.m. ET.
(Courtesy of BSU Athletics)
Akron, meanwhile, got a massive 48-point performance from Jimond Ivey. Senior Malcolm Duvivier contributed 22 points, while freshman Vishon Cotton came off the bench for 13 points. Daniel Utomi chipped in 11 points.
Ivey also set the Worthen Arena record with nine 3-pointers, finishing 9 for 12 from beyond the arc. His 48 points broke the arena record of 41 previously shared by Bonzi Wells (1996) and Eastern Michigan’s Earl Boykins (1998). On the other end of the spectrum, the Cardinals held Akron’s Daniel Utomi to 1 for 14 from deep.
Ball State improved to 13-8 (4-4 MAC), defeating Akron for the first time since 2004. The Zips, who had won three of their past four games, dropped to 10-10 (3-5 MAC).
“I thought it was a great win. I was proud of our guys. We really competed for 50 minutes of basketball," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. 'We got off to a rough start. It was a mentally challenging game for us. We turned the ball over I think nine times in the first 10 minutes of the game, and then we turned it over nine times in the next 40 minutes.
He continued, "They were really pressuring a denying some stuff, and I think that really affected us. Eventually we broke their back inside. We consistently got the ball in the box and we drew a ton of fouls. Trey and Tahjai went 14 of 25 from the field, and I thought that was a big part of the game.”
Ball State faced its biggest deficit of the day at 63-55 with 6:58 to play before going on a 10-0 run that swung the momentum. Two free throws from Moses were followed by a Persons 3-pointer and a Moses block that led to a runout dunk for the big man. When Mallers followed with a 3 at the 4:49 mark, the Cardinals took a 65-63 lead.
Ball State eventually took a five-point lead on a 3-point play from Persons, but Akron stormed back with an 8-1 run to grab an 81-79 advantage on a 3-point play from Utomi. Persons was fouled on BSU’s final possession of regulation and hit two free throws to force overtime.
The Cardinals led by three twice in the final minute of the first extra period, including a 95-92 advantage with 3.7 seconds left after a pair of Mallers free throws. But Ivey managed to get a contested look from 25 feet at the buzzer and drained it to extend the game again.
Ball State used a 6-0 run in the second overtime to build a 107-101 lead on a Teague dunk with 1:16 to play. Ivey scored five straight to pull the Zips within one, but a layup from Ishmael El-Amin followed by a steal and lay-in from Moses capped the win for the Cardinals.
After not going to overtime in any of the first 19 games this season, Ball State has now played back-to-back OT games. The Cardinals lost 88-80 in overtime four days earlier at Kent State.
As a team, Ball State set season highs for free throws made (33) and attempted (42). The Cardinals registered their second-best 3-point percentage of the year at 55.6 percent (10 for 18), with Persons, Mallers and Sean Sellers each hitting three.
Next:
Ball State will travel to MAC West Division leader Toledo Tuesday, while Akron is at Miami. Both games start a 7 p.m. ET.
(Courtesy of BSU Athletics)
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