In what was a generally clean contest with just 32 called fouls and 19 combined turnovers, the Ball State University men's basketball team defeated visiting University of Maryland Eastern Shore 56-47 Monday night in front of 2,903 fans at Worthen Arena.
With the win, the Cardinals (5-5) reach the .500 mark with two non-conference matchups to go before Mid-American Conference play begins in mid-January.
Ball State coach Billy Taylor said though he wasn't pleased with all aspects of his team's performance against the Hawks (3-8), the Cardinals played well enough when they needed to earn the win.
"I thought our defense was really tough, continued to be aggressive the entire game," Taylor said. "We showed pretty good efficiency on the offensive end in a pretty slow-paced game where we needed to try to be effective and score the ball at a good pace."
The Cardinals were playing without starting junior forward Malik Perry, who bruised his knee in a recent practice. Sophomore center Jarrod Jones said from the opening tip, Maryland Eastern Shore's defensive plan was to remain aggressive against Ball State's post players.
"The whole game, it was just a very competitive, physical game," Jones said. "And I think we did a good job of pulling it out."
Ball State missed 20 shots within layup range against the Hawks just one game after dominating the paint in the Cardinals' 59-45 win against North Carolina Central.
But Monday night, the Cardinals made up for the lack of production in the paint by converting jump shots. Ball State was a perfect 5-of-5 from 3-point range, as sophomore guard Randy Davis went 3-for-3 and freshmen guards Jauwan Scaife and Myron Green each went 1-for-1.
"Maryland Eastern Shore is a very physical ballclub, so it was really a good test for us because they play like some of our MAC opponents that are going to be very physical in the interior," Taylor said. "We've got to work on finishing in the interior. We had a lot of shots in the painted area that we didn't get in, we didn't finish — we've got to convert those, whether there is contact or not."
Green's 3 came with two seconds remaining in the first half to give the Cardinals a 28-24 lead going into halftime.
But the Hawks slowly chipped on Ball State's lead early in the second half before taking a 34-32 lead with 13:49 remaining in regulation.
Maryland Eastern Shore then increased its lead to four points — its largest of the game — just 28 seconds later on a layup by junior guard Tim Burns.
But a 3 from Davis cut the Hawks' lead to one, 36-35, and eventually a jumper from sophomore guard Pierre Sneed with 9:57 remaining tied the game at 37.
Ball State led by as many as five points with 6:49 remaining before Maryland Eastern Shore made another comeback. The Hawks tied the game at 43 with another layup from Burns, but the Cardinals used a heavy dose of Jones and Scaife to seal the win.
Jones, who on Monday afternoon was announced as the co-MAC West Division Player of the Week, finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in his third double-double in the past four games, and second straight overall. Jones and senior forward Terrence Watson also had a game-high three blocks each.
Scaife and Davis rounded out the Ball State scorers in double digits, as both added 11 points. Davis also had two assists and four rebounds with no turnovers.
For Maryland Eastern Shore, sophomore guard Hillary Haley finished with a game-high 13 points on just 5-of-12 shooting for the game.
Haley had 11 points at halftime on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range, but Taylor said he was happy with Sneed's defense on the 6-foot-6 Haley in the second half as he shot just 1-of-6 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3 in the final period.
"We let Haley get loose in transition a couple times in the first half, get some wide-open looks, which is just unacceptable," Taylor said. "But Pierre really led the charge in being focused and being determined and being there to contest every single 3-point shot."
Ball State plays the final game of its three-game homestand Thursday as it plays host to Division III Manchester College at 4 p.m. in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals then travel to the University of Dayton on Jan. 5 before beginning MAC play by playing host to Northern Illinois University on Jan. 13.
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