MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Ball State faced a Central Michigan team that without its Nos. 1 and 3 scorers, but despite those noticeable absences, it took an entire half for the Cardinals to separate themselves from the Chippewas.
The Cards (12-6, 7-3 Mid-American Conference) walked away with a 69-56 win over Central (7-12 2-9) in Rose Arena, but for the second game in a row, they had to turn it around in the second half.
Despite the absence of CMU's Kevin Nelson and Sefton Barrett, Dennis Trammell said it was business as usual for the Cardinals.
"We didn't factor them into the game," he said. "We still thought they were going to play."
The first half went back and forth, with no team leading by more than six points, and the score was tied five times, including 30-30 at halftime.
"I felt like we were waiting to see what they were going to do instead of being on the attack," coach Tim Buckley said. "And that's what we had to do because Central is one of those teams, they're going to get after you no matter what.
As the second half began, and the Cardinals came out with a new resolve. Junior center Tom Howland showed it with a dunk on the first possession, which jump-started a 9-0 run.
"I thought that when we were able to go on that run and put some good pressure on them to turn them over a little bit, that Central, due to their lack of depth, became a little fatigued," Buckley said. "That obviously helped our cause because we were able to go a little deeper into our bench."
From there the Cardinals put it on cruise control, despite Peyton Stovall and Howland getting banged up and having to spend time on the bench. Ball State forced 11 turnovers in the second half and built leads as high as 18 points.
"Our defensive pressure was outstanding in the second half," Stovall said. "We were just playing Ball State basketball, which is defense first, offense second."
The Cardinals were also able to hold Central to 8 of 24 from the field in the second.
"They shot like 48 percent in the first half and coach told us that," Stovall said. "One of the things we want to do, one of our goals is to be the best defensive team in the MAC, and we haven't done that yet. We came out there and thought about that."
Trammell led the way for the Cards with 16 points. Terrance Chapman earned his third straight double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Stovall added 13 points and Skip Mills 10 points with a career-high five assists.
"I thought the guys did a really good job of really playing to their roles," Buckley said. "I thought because they did that and they played in their roles, it gave us a good opportunity to win here."
The win was the Cardinals' third road win, all of which have come in the state of Michigan.
"We came to win," Trammell said. "That's our focus right now. We're taking things game by game, and we want to win games. We weren't thinking about a streak or nothing like that."
The Cardinals will face Marshall, which has yet to win a conference game, at home on Sunday.
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