For one half, Ball State had its best shooting performance of the season.
When that touch left in the second half, though, the Cardinals turned to the free-throw line for salvation and strung together numerous defensive stops down the stretch.
In the end, BSU had doubled its halftime advantage and dismissed visiting Bowling Green by an 86-62 count.
For the Cards (8-5, 3-2 Mid-American Conference), it was a much-needed victory going into Saturday's showdown at league-leading Western Michigan. The Falcons (10-4, 4-2), meanwhile, held their seemingly annual Worthen Arena foulfest, committing 30 fouls that resulted in BSU shooting 28 of 40 from the free-throw line.
"Every night, we gotta come out like we came tonight," said sophomore point guard Peyton Stovall, who had 17 points thanks a 12-of-15 effort at the foul line. "In the locker room, guys had fire in their eyes that I hadn't seen a couple games. Even when we won, I hadn't seen that fire. Just seeing that in our leaders ... that makes everybody else step their game up as well."
Senior Dennis Trammell broke open a 14-14 tie with three-point plays on consecutive possessions, starting a 14-4 run that broke the game open.
Darren Yates' three-pointer gave Ball State its largest lead at 38-23, and Trammell's third trey of the half pushed the Cards' advantage back to 49-37 for halftime.
The Cardinals shot 57 percent (16 of 28) in the first half. Although the team finished at 43.6 percent, it sank 10 of 21 three-pointers.
Trammell scored 15 points in the first half and finished with a game and season-high 22 points.
Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich attributed Ball State's quickness as the reason for the open long-range shots and many of the its foul shots.
"There's a difference between playing helpside and rotating, and guarding somebody else's man," Dakich said. "Too often we were guarding somebody else's man because they just whipped us. We just couldn't stop fouling."
In its four previous visits to Muncie, Dakich's team had averaged 29 fouls.
Ball State coach Tim Buckley felt his team's quickness also manifested itself on defense, where the Cardinals harassed the Falcons into 19 turnovers.
"I thought Peyton did a terrific job putting pressure on the basketball," Buckley said. "Probably what I'm most proud of is that Peyton shot 2 of 11 from the field, but he played like a champion on defense."
Mills converted a four-point play to open the second half, but Bowling Green wouldn't go away. The Falcons closed within eight twice, the second time with 8:13 left and the score 68-60.
However, Ball State switched a 2-3 zone defense that the Falcons never solved. They scored just once -- on John Floyd's runner with 2:23 left -- the rest of the game. In between the Cardinals ran off 12 points to produce an 80-60 lead.
"I think we just got it together, once we got into zone, and stopped their momentum," said Mills, who knocked down five of six three-pointers on his way to 20 points. "There was a lot of stagger-screening for (John) Reimold, and Almanson was setting screens and cutting to the basket. Against a zone you can't really screen much."
After recording just eight assists against 20 turnovers the previous game at Toledo, the Cardinals nearly reversed those figures Tuesday, assisting on 18 of 24 field goals and committing just nine turnovers.
"That shows really good team basketball," Buckley said.
Terrance Chapman notched 15 points for the Cardinals, while he and Trammell grabbed seven rebounds apiece.
Reimold paced the Falcons with 17 points, while Almanson recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
