Ball State traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., where they dropped their first game of the 2013-14 regular season to rival Indiana State University.
Jesse Berry led the Cardinals with 23 points and Zavier Turner also chipped in 17 points as they lost their first road game.
Saturday afternoon was a special day for Indiana State as NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird returned to his alma mater to view his statue unveiling, be at the announcement of the Larry Bird Scholarship and receive an award for being one of the top 75 March Madness players in NCAA history.
“I thought this was a great college basketball game,” Ball State head coach James Whitford said. “Both teams were clicking on offense and I told my players that I was proud of the progress we made from Monday to today.”
Indiana State was led by senior guard Dawon Cummings as he put on a three-point clinic scoring 21 points. Cummings connected on five three-point attempts in the first half, all in front of former NBA marksman Larry Bird. Cummings finished the game shooting 75 percent from three-point territory as he made 7-10 field goal attempts.
“For Cummings, we played him both for the shot and drive.” Whitford said. “We were concerned about his ability to do both.”
Berry had the assignment of guarding Cummings for the better part of the game as he got off quality shots of his own. Berry attempted 11 free throws only missing one.
“This week at practice was about getting better,” Berry said. “Coach said he was disappointed in us after the Marian game and we knew that we couldn’t play like that during the season.”
A scary moment happened for the Cardinals as Turner limped to the bench with an ankle injury after a Khristian Smith fast break around the eight minute mark. Turner would sit on the bench for about two minutes until a timeout was called. Turner then went back to the locker room with Athletic Trainer Troy Hershman to get his ankle taped.
“It’s a little sore right now,” Turner said about his ankle. “I couldn’t really feel it because [Hershman] taped it so tight.”
Turner returned to the game with roughly six minutes left to finish the game.
Majok Majok had a quiet game Saturday finishing with eight points and three rebounds. Majok was double-teamed almost every time he touched the ball in the post.
“They played behind [Majok] which gave them the rebounding position.” Whitford said. “I thought Majok was very unselfish tonight.”
Majok went 4-4 from the field with two assists and no free throw attempts.
“We can’t let him get through a game with three rebounds.” Whitford said. “We have to make sure that he is getting his 12 or 13 rebounds to fix that.”
Ball State has two days to prepare for its first home game against Taylor University at Worthen Arena.
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