The blowout win was the team's second this week, as the Cards beat Bowling Green by 24 on Tuesday before Saturday's 20-point win. Ball State (6-5) is . . .
Northern Illinois, fresh off Tuesday's upset win over Akron, dropped to 1-6 MAC (2-10 overall).
Ball State's Miryne Thomas scored 20 points and had a team-leading seven rebounds as five different Cardinals tallied at least nine points. Thomas, whose career high of 21 points came at his previous school, got his first 20-point effort at Ball State on 6-for-7 shooting and 4-for-4 from 3-point range. He was a missed layup and a missed free throw away from a perfect shooting day.
Luke Bumbalough scored 11 points with three made 3-pointers and K.J. Walton and Blake Huggins each scored 10. Eleven Cardinals saw action in the game and nine of them entered the scoring column.
Zool Kueth hit 5-of-9 overall and 3-of-5 treys for 15 points to lead NIU. Trendon Hankerson was the only other Huskie in double figures. He had 12 points.
Northern Illinois shot 34.9 percent overall and was 6-of-8 at the line. Ball State had 24 free throw opportunities and connected on 18.
TURNING POINT: Ball State controlled the game for much of the day and went on a 9-0 to give the Cardinals a 17-6 lead. After forging a double-digit lead, Ball State took a 34-19 edge to the locker room.
NIU battled back and managed to close within nine (58-49) with 9:03 to play, but the Cardinals answered with a 7-0 run to go up 16 and extended the lead from there.
"It was a really good win. I thought we did a good job defensively and rebounding the ball. We made some shots late. It was a really good team win," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "We've had three games where we've defensively been on point. I like our team and feel like we're in a good place.."
(Courtesy BSU Athletics/MRO Edit)