Following Saturday's upset win at Western Michigan, Ball State coach Tim Buckley wanted his team to avoid a letdown Tuesday at Akron. Unfortunately, that's exactly what he got.
The Cardinals (9-6, 4-3 Mid-American Conference) came out flat and sloppy from the beginning and never recovered, committing 19 turnovers in a 79-64 defeat at JAR Arena. While BSU failed to keep pace with Bowling Green for second place in the West Division, the Zips (12-5, 6-3) improved to 9-0 at home in winning their fifth consecutive game.
Akron scored the game's first 11 points, and Ball State committed four turnovers before its first bucket, a Peyton Stovall 3-pointer 4:20 into the game.
"They attacked us and we didn't attack back, plain and simple," Stovall said.
Bubba Walther's trey gave the Zips a 26-9 advantage with 7:46 left. The Cards heated up late, though, using four 3-pointers to close within 39-30 by halftime.
Ball State played without forward Terrance Chapman, who injured his left shoulder at Western and was a game-time decision. Chapman is averaging 14.6 points and 9.1 rebounds.
With Chapman out of the lineup, Akron exploited the matchup of 6-foot-7 Romeo Travis inside against starting guard Matt McCollom and forward Michael Bennett. Travis shot 5 of 6 for 14 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 22 points.
"We knew we had to play defense and we didn't," Buckley said.
"We shot the ball well at one point, but didn't defend," senior guard Dennis Trammell added.
Trammell's 3-point play had the Cardinals within six to start the second half, but the Zips immediately ripped off a 15-4 run to regain control. The Cards committed five more turnovers during that stretch.
An 8-0 spurt gave Akron its largest lead (68-45) with 6:48 left, and the Cards never got closer than 15 after that.
Stovall scored 23 and Trammell 21 to lead the Cards, but they also combined for 10 turnovers and just one assist.
Daryl Peterson and Matt Futch had 11 points each to back Travis. Akron made twice as many free throws (26) as Ball State attempted, and the Zips converted BSU miscues into 30 points. Akron's bench outscored BSU's by a 23-4 margin.
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