(BALL STATE RELEASE)
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Six players scored in double figures and the Ball State men's basketball team turned in its most complete performance of the season in an 88-64 rout at Bowling Green.
Ishmael El-Amin scored 20 points and made five 3-pointers to lead the best road scoring outing for the Cardinals in three years. Brachen Hazen and K.J. Walton each scored 14 points and Luke Bumbalough and Teemu Suokas added 11. Walton also led the team with nine rebounds and led the defensive effort on Bowling Green's All-MAC star Justin Turner, who was held below his scoring average. The sixth double-figure scorer was Kani Acree with a season-high 10 points.
TURNING POINT: BSU shot 52% in the first half to claim a 43-36 halftime advantage, and then routed the league's first-place team the rest of the night. A trey by El-Amin put the Cardinals up 51-38 early in the second half and later a lay-up by Miryne Thomas extended the lead to 58-40. Bowling Green wouldn't get closer than 12 the rest of the way as Ball State won the second half 45-28.
STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH: "I'm just really pleased with our team," head coach James Whitford said. "Was really happy with the way our guys have been really working hard and we had good practices before Buffalo and good practices before Bowling Green. We knew some better days were coming and I was really, really happy for them that were able to put together this win."
PLUS-15 ON THE GLASS: Ball State allowed 25 offensive rebounds at Buffalo last weekend and came to Bowling Green near the bottom of the conference statistics in rebounding. But the Cardinals flipped that trend upside down with a dominating rebounding performance Tuesday night. BSU controlled the glass for a 41-26 rebounding advantage and grabbed 87% of its defensive rebounds, a 20% increase from the season average. Four Cardinals in addition to Walton grabbed six rebounds or more rebounds.
ROAD SHOW: BSU's 88-point output was the team's most in a road game since it scored 90 in a win at Akron on Feb. 13, 2018. Currently, the Cardinals are 3-2 in conference play with all three wins coming on the road (at NIU, at WMU, at BG).
THEY'RE NOT USED TO THIS: Bowling Green is very strong at home, and the win Tuesday was something road teams don't do often. Ball State's 24-point margin of victory for gave BG its most lopsided loss at home for Bowling Green since 2018.
BG's Turner, who scores 21 points per game, finished with 18 points and four turnovers. No other Bowling Green player reached double figures and BG shot 5-for-24 from 3-point range. BSU shot a season-best 12-for-26 from 3-point range, including 7-for-13 in the second half.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals return to Muncie to host Northern Illinois Saturday at 1 p.m. Ball State won at NIU 79-70 in overtime in early December. A win would lift the Cardinals to 4-2 in league play.
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