ATHENS, Ohio - A lack of intensity in the second half resulted in the second straight game where Ball State University men's basketball team has blown a double-digit lead and been handed a loss by a conference foe.
Ball State held a 10-point lead three times in Sunday's game against Ohio University before faltering during a six-minute scoring drought that led to a 71-60 loss to last season's Mid-American Conference Tournament champions.
The Cardinals' play was similar to their loss to Akron last Wednesday when Ball State played stifling defense and showcased good shot selection in the first half before hitting a wall in the second half. Both times the opposing teams made strong runs that Ball State could not stop. Junior Skip Mills said the team needs to figure out how to play together for a full 40 minutes.
"When a team makes a run in the second half, for some reason we're just having a problem keeping it going," said Mills, who scored a game-high 25 points. "We're not matching their intensity. They're bringing it to us and we just sit back and roll over."
Ball State's defense held Ohio to 38 percent shooting in the first half. Mills and junior D'Andre Peyton led the team's offense, combining for 22 of the team's 32 first-half points.
Ohio responded in the second half by shooting from beyond the arc. Once the Bobcats began to hit outside shots, Ball State's defense collapsed. Peyton said he sees some of his teammates getting tired in the second half, something he attributes to the youth of many of the players on the squad.
"I sense that sometimes that some people get tired faster than others," Peyton said. "Everybody needs to be in shape. If you've got fatigue then you need to fight through the fatigue."
Ball State (4-6 overall, 0-2 MAC) lost the spring in its step by the middle of the second half when Ohio, after being down nine points, put together a 14-0 run to take the lead for the first time and for good. The Cardinals' offense went out-of-sync during Ohio's run, when Mills and Peyton couldn't get the open shots they were getting in the first half.
"Their [defense] is keying on me. I'm not a selfish player so I'm not going to take a lot of bad shots," Mills said. "[Teammates] got to step up and make shots and they're going to step up. It's just a matter of time."
Juniors Charles Bass and Chris Ames missed starting for the Cardinals for the first time this season. Coach Tim Buckley insisted it wasn't because of their poor play against Akron. Freshmen Jalon Perryman and Pat Nelson started in place of Ames and Bass. Buckley said a healthy dose of inner-team competition is a benefit.
"Those guys earned those spots and I'm proud of them," Buckley said. "That's what you want to have with a young, inexperienced team is just competition because competition in practice helps you be more competitive as you get to the games."
CARDINALS DURING BREAK
Ball State came away with only one win during this year's Christmas break, and that one win didn't even come against an NCAA Division I school. The Cardinals trumped Division III Anderson 75-47 before losing four games in a row, including two losses to Mid-American Conference teams.
The Cardinals took early leads against two of their opponents but both times the team could not sustain them. Ball State went up early against Drexel and Akron before succumbing to poor shooting and lazy defense, losing to both.
Indiana visited Ball State on New Year's Eve in front of a sell-out crowd at Worthen Arena. Ball State took a 20-18 lead over the Hoosiers with 7:10 left in the first half before Indiana guard Robert Vaden unleashed an onslaught of 3-pointers, helping to extend the Hoosiers' lead to 15 points by halftime.-áBall State never recovered and suffered an 80-56 loss to its in-state rival.
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
