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Mon, Nov 16 - vs. Eastern Illinois
Fri, Nov 20 - vs. Eastern Kentucky
Sat, Nov 21 - vs. Longwood
Sun, Nov 22 - vs. South Carolina State
Points were hard to come by in Ball State men's basketball's season opener at Bradley on Nov. 13.
The Cardinals made 20 field goals on 55 attempts, good for a 36.4 percent from the field. On the defensive side, Ball State kept Bradley to just 31.9 percent from the field.
What looked to be Ball State’s first non-conference road win under head coach James Whitford changed after the under-eight-minutes media timeout.
“They started changing defenses on us,” Whitford said. “They started pressing a little bit, and what I didn’t want to do was over-control it.”
Ball State managed to keep a 45-37 lead until Bradley freshmen Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye and Luuk van Bree stepped up.
Lautier-Ogunleye was the game’s highest scorer, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds. Van Bree struggled to find his rhythm for a majority of the contest, going 0-7 from the field and dealing with foul trouble. His only points came after that media timeout.
Whitford said the eight-minute mark in the second half opened up the game for Bradley.
Ball State was able beat Bradley’s press a couple times only to be denied by van Bree. The freshman from the Netherlands came up with three blocks, one of which was on senior forward, Bo Calhoun, when the Cardinals were up 45-44 with 5:03 remaining.
After junior forward Franko House pushed the lead to 47-44, van Bree nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing. Junior guard Naiel Smith turned the ball over on the ensuing possession later giving up another van Bree 3-pointer from dead center.
The Cardinals had a balanced night in scoring and rebounds. Freshman Trey Moses got the starting nod at center and finished his first game as a Cardinal with five points and five rebounds.
“I’m impressed but I see it every day,” Whitford said. “What you saw today is what you see in practice, he’s got a chance to become a really good player in time.”
Smith and Jeremiah Davis started at the guard positions and had identical stat lines to finish the night. Smith had 8 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Davis had 8 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Senior Bo Calhoun was the third Cardinal player with 8 points for the night but added nine rebounds to his totals. House, Sean Sellers and Jeremie Tyler each had 7 points a piece.
House and Sellers had three rebounds a piece while Tyler doubled their output with six. Bik Gill’s 3-pointer in the first half was his only points of the night.
Ball State plays Eastern Illinois on Nov. 16 in its home opener.
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