In its two exhibition games Ball State made just four of 33attempts from 3-point land. But all along coach Tim Buckleyremained confident in his team's ability to drain threes.
That confidence was manifested Tuesday night, as the Cardinalshit 7 of 13 attempts from behind the arc in a 75-63 season-openingupset of No. 29 Xavier at Worthen Arena.
Ball State has now won its season opener in each of Buckley'sfour seasons at the helm.
"First of all, I remember when you guys asked me that questionafter the EA Sports game," Buckley recalled, "the gentleman sittingright in front of me rolled his eyes when I said 'We can makethrees, we just haven't made them in the games.' So I guess tonightwe proved that right.
"And then secondly, Terrance Chapman's junior college coach toldme not to let him shoot threes."
Instead, going against that advice paid off. Chapman hit a pairof threes among his nine second-half points.
Another player Ball State was content to let shoot from longrange was Robert Owens. The senior forward came off the bench todrain all three of his 3-point attempts and score a game-high 23points.
Buckley admires Owens for accepting a non-starting role so farthis season.
"When you're a senior, you think everything's going to go yourway," he said. "You're going to have a great year, be a starter,the whole thing. He's coming off the bench now and he hasn'tchanged his attitude one bit. Reo's come a long way in fouryears."
It was Owens 16 first-half points that kept Ball State the inthe game. In building a 40-36 halftime lead, Xavier shot 16 of 31from the field and outscored the Cardinals 22-6 in the paint.
"You want to come in, get a tough rebound and hit a few shots toget your rhythm going," Owens said. "When that happens, you'regoing on all cylinders, everybody starts clicking. It definitelyhelps when you can come in and do something like that.
"This ranks up there in the top wins I've had here."
In the second half his teammates started to pick up someslack.
Chapman and Owens and Dennis Trammell all hit threes and MattMcCollom took a steal in for a layup as the Cards built a 47-42advantage in the first few minutes of the second half.
"We just wanted to keep our composure, and we did that," saidfreshman point guard Peyton Stovall, who finished with eightpoints, seven assists and two steals in his first regular-seasongame. "We came out with a lot of fire, and we didn't want to losethat fire, because a lot of teams come out in the first half, playwell, and in the second half they lose their intensity.
"We had a good talk in the lockerroom," Trammell added, "and inthe second half we just wanted to attack, attack, attack. Just keepattacking and playing team defense."
Xavier fought back, with All-America candidate Romain Satofinally scoring via a putback at the 16:42 mark. Another putback byJustin Cage put the Musketeers up 56-55 with 10:14 remaining.
But Trammell responded just four seconds later, and theMusketeers would never lead again, as Ball State turned up thedefensive pressure and limited the visitors to just three pointsover the next seven minutes.
The Musketeers shot just 29 percent in the second half, andleading scorers Sato and Lionel Chalmers combined to shoot just 5of 25 on the night.
"I would like to say it was coaching, defensively," Buckleyjoked. "I think some of it had to do with they played a littlefaster than they wanted, maybe had to rush some shots. But Ithought our guys were in the right spots, getting in the gaps,rotating. Our help was early, which is real key to being a gooddefensive team."
Trammell's bucket would trigger a 14-3 run that put theCardinals up by 10 with 3:12 to go.
Sato brought Xavier back within 69-61 with a pair of freethrows, but after a BSU turnover he misfired and Cameron Echolsrebounded. The Cardinals milked the clock until Stovall made adriving a layup, drew a foul from Dedrick Finn, and sank thesubsequent free throw with 1:41 to go, all but sealing a 1-0 startto the season.
"Last year, we didn't have a great season (13-17)," McCollomsaid. "This year we wanted to come out with a couple big wins.That's what we have to do to get the season going."
Chapman (12 points) and Trammell (11) joined Owens in doublefigures for the Cardinals. Echols (10 rebounds) and Stovall addedeight apiece.
However, Buckley said the the large student body was the MVPthanks to their raucous support.
"They could have gone home for Thanksgiving early," Buckley Ithought they were key, and you've got to have that fan support whenyou have game like this. It was a great atmosphere, and our guysreally responded to that.
"I thought the game plan was executed as well as any team I'vecoached. We have a group of guys that are really unselfish, andthat includes the guys who didn't play tonight. I couldn't tell whoplayed and who didn't because they all felt the satisfaction."
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