A rare 3-pointer from senior D'Andre Peyton with 15 seconds remaining in overtime lifted the Ball State University men's basketball team over intrastate rival Indiana State University 73-70.
Peyton's 3-pointer was the second of his Ball State career. His first was in the Cardinals' blowout victory over Northern Colorado.
"I shoot a lot of threes in practice," Peyton said. "I was open, so why not take the shot?"
In the play, Peyton set a screen for Peyton Stovall, then moved to the top of the key. Both defenders guarded Stovall, so Stovall passed it out to Peyton, who was open for the shot.
"We called the play for D'Andre and he took it and knocked it down," coach Ronny Thompson said. "We didn't necessarily need him to take the three, but we wanted him to get the jump shot at the top of the key."
Thompson said he wasn't worried about Peyton taking the three either.
"When he got it, I was screaming 'take it, take it!'" he said. "That's another one of those things - don't come out and take a shot you haven't practiced and experiment in the game. But he's done that shot over and over and over again in practice."
The win ended a four-game losing streak for the Cardinals (3-4 overall) and was the first overtime game of the season. The game was constantly close, with no team holding more than a six-point lead in the entire contest.
"Everybody wants to win," senior Chris Ames said. "This victory here was a team thing. Everybody pitched in everywhere. Every part of the court, there was someone to help out."
The Cardinals' struggles with shooting continued, however; they shot 24-of-66 from the field and 5-of-16 from beyond the arch, while Indiana State made 25-of-47 from the field.
The difference was likely in turnovers. Indiana State turned the ball over 21 times compared to the Cardinals' nine.
"I thought that one of the keys was we were able to score off of turnovers," Thompson said. "When we went to Vegas, an even against my brother, I felt we got steals; we forced turnovers, but then we didn't score. We want our defense to be part of our offense and that was a big part of (the win)."
Peyton led the team in scoring with a career-high 22 points, while senior Skip Mills added 15 and sophomore Anthony Newell scored 11 for the Cards. Senior Chris Ames had a team-high eight rebounds and added four assists and three steals.
The win was the tenth-straight home win against the Sycamores. The Cardinals will face nationally ranked Butler on Wednesday.
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