With its inside game taken away by a stifling IUPUI defense, the men's basketball team stood behind the arc for most of the game.
And it paid off.
In a battle to the finish, Ball State University hit two clutch 3-pointers that led the way to a 53-50 win on Wednesday over IUPUI.
Freshman Jalon Perryman and junior Skip Mills drained two 3s with a little more than two minutes remaining in the game to put the Cardinals up four points, and for good.
The team only made 5-of-17 from beyond the arc in the game and were kept out of the paint for the entire game. IUPUI's zone defense kept the ball out of center Charles Bass' hands, letting the 6-foot-9 junior only shoot two shots the entire game.
"We haven't seen a lot of zone, and IUPUI does a terrific job of changing defenses," Buckley said. "We had to move the ball, try to attack, and we had to make good decisions. We did make some bad decisions, but as the game wore on, our decision-making kept getting better and better."
The Cardinals, who were behind five points at halftime, came out with their own gritty defense in the second half. IUPUI only scored three points in the first seven minutes of the second half, allowing Ball State to its first lead of the game at the 13:51 mark.
Bass led the charge with a steal at half-court that resulted in a thundering two-handed dunk, and it was immediately followed by a Chris Ames' steal that ended in a lay-up and a 32-31 lead.
Mills said the game was an ultimate team win.
"This was a team win, and we just played team basketball," said Mills, who led the team with 18 points and 10 rebounds. "This was a huge win for this team, and everybody just came together. There were huge plays that our team made today."
Perryman, who started the game for D'Andre Peyton, scored a career-high 10 points in 29 minutes of play. Perryman got the start so the team could matchup better with IUPUI's smaller lineup.
Although Bass wasn't a big contributor on offense, he still provided a big inside presence for the team on defense. Bass pulled in eight rebounds while blocking two shots and picking up two steals.
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