In their first action on a Division I school basketball team, juniors D'Andre Peyton and Chris Ames made their presence known.
The two junior-college transfers put together an impressive offensive and defensive effort in Ball State University's 66-43 win over Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday.
"I love being out there," Ames said. "I love the atmosphere, I love the people, I love the arena. I just love everything about everything."
Ames ended his first Ball State game by leading the team with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting while also picking up six steals and five rebounds. The guard also held Saginaw Valley's Sydney McDaniel, who scored 17 points against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, to 2-of-9 shooting and six points.
"I'm trying to do whatever will help my team out," Ames said. "I don't care if I go out and get no points but have seven rebounds and three or four steals - that's a perfect game for me."
D'Andre Peyton added 11 points while getting to the free-throw line 10 times, connecting on seven of them. He also collected three of the team's 13 steals and although Ball State forced Saginaw Valley to turn the ball over 28 times, Peyton said the Cardinals' defense can be better.
"That wasn't our best defense," Peyton said. "We've played a lot better defense in practice."
Saginaw Valley stayed with Ball State early, tying the game at 13-13 with 12 minutes left in the first half. Ball State went on a 14-1 run but Saginaw Valley continued its good shooting to cut the lead to eight by halftime.
Saginaw Valley's 46.7 percent field-goal shooting didn't follow them into the second half when the team was held to 3-of-20 shooting, including 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.
"We were a little bit sluggish in the first half, and the reason we were was because we had eight guys who've never been in this situation before," coach Tim Buckley said. "When we were tuned in and we guarded like we're capable of, then I felt like we were able to pose our will on them just because of our athleticism and quickness."
Ball State started the second half with a 12-2 run and never looked back the rest of the way.
The only two returning starters from last year's squad each played 30 minutes, the most on the team. Junior Skip Mills finished with 15 points while junior Peyton Stovall finished with eight points in his first game back after recovering from an ACL injury suffered in last year's Mid-American Conference tournament.
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