In a game that featured 36 turnovers and 55 fouls and lasted more than two hours, Ball State University's men's basketball team won 79-73 against the University at Buffalo.
"I like ugly games," coach Ronny Thompson said. "Today was an ugly game and it went in our favor. I think the uglier the game, the better for us, and we got out of there with a win."
The Cardinals (8-15, 4-6 Mid-American Conference) were led by senior Skip Mills and D'Andre Peyton. Mills shot 5-of-18 from the field and had 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals,
"He got buckets, he got 20 points and I'll take it any way it comes," Thompson said. "What I was happy about tonight is that Skip was more assertive. That's what led him to get to the foul line more. We need Skip's points, I don't care how they come. If he can shoot them from the bench and they go in, or if he can shoot them from the foul line and they go in."
Peyton added 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals in his third game back from a suspension.
"D'Andre came in and knocked down some baskets and he rebounded well," Thompson said. "He gave us a scoring punch, which we needed."
Peyton Stovall and Anthony Newell each had 12 points for the Cardinals. Jarelle Redden played a career-high 27 minutes and tied career-highs for points, rebounds and steals.
"Jarelle is playing very well for us right now," Thompson said. "Jarelle is finally getting healthy. Jarelle hasn't been healthy all year."
While Redden was finally getting healthy, other members of the team were also struggling with the flu, with Micah Rollin, Stovall and Mills all under the weather.
"Skip was throwing up like crazy at half time," Thompson said. "He didn't even hear anything I said at half. He was in the bathroom with Doc. I said 'Skip, ain't no time to be sick now.' And then, with two minutes left he couldn't keep his head up, and I said 'Skip, we can be sick tonight, we cannot be sick right now.' And he got through it."
The Bulls (10-13, 2-8 MAC) had four players in double figures, and senior Yassin Idbihi had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Both teams combined for 72 free throw attempts, six short of the Worthen Arena record. The 55 fouls for both teams combined was the most in a Ball State game this season.
"Every game is physical," Peyton said. "It's no more physical than practice. That's how practice is, basically. Physical, fouling. A lot of fouling."
Buffalo scored the first seven points and 12 of the first 14 points. The Cardinals responded with a 21-4 run to take a 23-16 lead with 8:37 remaining in the first half.
"I thought we started off the game too slow, and that's a problem we're going to have to fix," Mills said. "I felt we recovered well. They're a scrappy team so we just had to match their intensity if we wanted to win the game."
The Bulls would cut the lead to one late in the first half before back-to-back Ahmaad Cook 3-pointers gave Ball State a 36-29 lead.
Buffalo's Parnell Smith hit a free throw to bring the score to 36-30 at halftime.
The Bulls would bring it closer once more, tieing the score at 42 with 14:57 remaining in the second half. The Cardinals went on a 20-5 run and led by at least four points for the remainder of the game.
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