With 7:56 remaining in the first half, a Skip Mills dunk on a fast break put the Ball State University men's basketball team in a 19-18 lead over No. 22 Oklahoma State University. However, a 17-4 run to end the half put the Cowboys up by 12 at halftime, and they never looked back. Oklahoma State remained undefeated, topping the Cardinals 75-56.
"I thought the end of the first half hurt us," coach Ronny Thompson said. "We went cold and made some poor decisions, and that second half we started off erratic."
The loss was the sixth in the last seven games and the fourth - and likely final game - against a ranked team this season.
The Cardinals' (3-6) shooting woes continued against the Cowboys. They shot 18-of-48 from the field and hit only one 3-pointer. The lone bright spot in the Cardinals' shooting was from the free-throw line, where they were 19-of-21.
"We didn't take Ball State lightly," Cowboys coach Sean Sutton said. "We didn't have any zip. We were tired, maybe from the travel. I thought early on we were sluggish, but give them credit."
The Cowboys (11-0) stole the ball 10 times from the Cardinals, while Ball State only mustered up three steals, tieing their low for the season.
"We made some mistakes and it cost us," Mills said. "That is something you can't do against a top team, because once you make those mistakes, the game can possibly be over [by then]."
The loss ends the roughest part of the schedule for the Cardinals. The team will have a week off before hosting Valparaiso on Saturday, followed by Temple on Tuesday.
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