Senior forward Terrance Chapman scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Ball State prepped for its season-opening showdown with Kentucky by overpowering Taylor, 79-51, in an exhibition game at Worthen Arena.
Taylor, and NAIA school, came in with a 3-1 regular-season record.
"We prepared for them like we will any other team, and our guys were ready to play," BSU head coach Tim Buckley said. "(Taylor) is a good shooting team, a good passing team. They run the triangle [offense] very well. They just don't have a Michael Jordan at the end."
While Chapman scored 15 of his points in the first half and shot 7 of 12 from the field, but Buckley was quick to say that he has a chance to be a special player on defense.
"He can have an influence on the game the way Paris McCurdy had, in that he can guard a number of positions," Buckley said. "Dennis Trammell is our heart and soul, but Terrance gets our team emotionally charged up," Buckley said.
McCurdy was Ball State's defensive ace on its 1989 and 1990 NCAA Tournament teams.
"I just have more of a leadership role this year," Chapman said. "I've got to go out and set an example."
Despite committing 13 turnovers, Taylor stayed with Ball State for much of the first half, especially after Ball State used a 10-0 run to go up 18-5 with 14:20 to go.
Darren Yates and Peyton Stovall hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the spurt, and Stovall capped it with steal and layup.
An Eric Ford trey brought the Trojans to 24-18, the first of three times they would get the deficit down to six. However, 3-pointers from Stovall and Chapman, plus Bennett's bucket down low, moved the lead back up to 36-24 with 1:20 left in the half. The Cards carried a 38-27 lead into halftime.
"To he honest, I was pretty pleased with our defense at halftime," Buckley said. "But we also talked about turning it up a notch and lowering their shooting percentage."
The second half was a different story, as Ball State outscored Taylor 19-4 over the first 10 minutes. The Trojans never got closer than 20 after that.
Taylor shot 53 percent in the first half but managed just 33 percent after halftime. The Trojans also committed 21 turnovers overall, leading to 30 BSU points.
Stovall (17 points), Trammell (14) and Michael Bennett (10) also cracked double figures for the Cardinals. Bennett pulled down six rebounds and Stovall five, as the Cardinals outrebounded the Trojans 35-21.
Buckley felt Stovall's strong night shooting (5 of 7 from the field) stemmed not only from the the thousands of shots he put up over the summer, but from his play at the other end.
"The reason he shot the ball well tonight was that he spearheaded us defensively," Buckley said.
Ball State faces Kentucky on Tuesday at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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