Ball State rolls over and plays dead in loss to Kent State

The Ball State men's basketball team suffered its second straight loss this week, losing to Kent State 66-53. BSU fell behind early 24-14 after an 11-5 run by Kent. The Cardinals cut the lead to three at the half 30-27 and cut the lead to one at the 16 minute mark of the second half. However, a 10-2 run followed a little later by a 13-6 run pushed the Kent lead to 57-41, a comfortable lead for the Golden Flashes.

Kent State hit 7 three-pointers, 5 of them during their second-half run. They shot 47% from the field compared to BSU's 37%. Kent had 12 fast break points to BSU's zero. It looked like the Flashes had more energy than the Cardinals and that showed on the stat sheet.

BSU has had a difficult time over the last 5 games. They are 3-2 over that span, but their RPI has dropped from 86th to 159th. In the last 3 games, the team has shot a combined 37% from the field. Their offensive efficiency has struggled also. After averaging a little over a point per possession on offense prior to the last 5 games, they team has only 92 points per 100 possessions over the last 5. The defense has played well as the defensive points allowed per possession has stayed constant. The offense needs to get back on track on Saturday as the Cardinals host Ohio at 2pm.

Brownsburg's basketball teams face most of Hamilton County this weekend. The boys team hosts Noblesville on Friday and travels to Hamilton SE on Saturday. The boys are double-digit underdogs in both games. The girls host Fishers on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs are 20-plus point favorites in that game.

Bulldogs breeze by Beech Grove, BSU faces tough test tonight

The Brownsburg girls basketball team traveled to Beech Grove last night and cruised to victory with a great defensive effort. After taking a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs held the Hornets scoreless in the second quarter and took a 30-11 lead at halftime, eventually winning the game by a score of 68-36.

The post players were very effective in the game. Center Stephanie Mavunga led all scorers with 19 points and forward Lindsey Dall scored 14. Ryne Carr, Elissa Hall, Erica Lesch, and Katie Reinhart scored 6 points each.

On Saturday, the Dogs host a Fishers team that is rebuilding after a great run of seasons. Fishers is 5-13 overall and 2-6 in the HCC. Brownsburg is 16-4 overall and 5-3 in the HCC.

In college hoops, the BSU men's team hosts Kent State tonight in a game that features two of the top teams in the MAC. Ball State is favored by 2.5 points, but the Cardinals have not beaten Kent since 2005. It will be interesting to see how BSU recovers from Monday night's game against Morehead State, a game that the Cards should have won.

Ball State cruises early, struggles late, gets beat by Morehead State

Ball State came out with a good defensive game plan in the first half against Morehead State, taking a 25-15 lead at halftime. The Cardinals stretched the lead to 11 a few minutes into the second half at 28-17. Over the next 10 minutes, Morehead went on a 20-4 run to take a 37-32 lead. During those 10 minutes BSU was 1-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 from the free throw line, and had 4 turnovers.

Ball State cut the lead to one, 45-44, at the 4-minute timeout. The next Morehead possession put the momentum in the Eagles hands. Drew Kelly hit a three-pointer and BSU's Malik Perry fouled one of the forwards for Morehead, leading to an eventual 5-point possession that pushed the lead to 50-44. BSU clamped down the D after that as Morehead did not score the rest of the game. BSU's Randy Davis hit four free throws in the last two minutes to cut the lead to 50-48 and the Cardinals had the ball with 12 seconds to go. Davis drove to the hoop and missed a reverse layup as time expired to give the Eagles a 50-48 victory.

The loss snaps BSU's 7 game winning streak, bringing their record to 13-5. They host Kent State on Thursday and Ohio on Saturday as they start their MAC East schedule.

Ball State wins, but drops significantly in the RPI

The Ball State men's basketball team beat Toledo on Saturday, 70-60, to stay undefeated in the MAC. They are 5-0 in the conference after beating all of their MAC West opponents the first time through. They play the East division over the next three weeks before closing out the season with the MAC West opponents again. BSU is 13-4 this season.

The problem with the Cards is that they will need to win the MAC tournament to get a bid to the NCAA tourney. Their current RPI is 108th. They need to be in the top 45 to be in consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney.

Why did they fall from 90th to 108th over the past week when they won both of their games?

1 - They beat poor competition (EMU ranks 331st, Toledo 323rd in RPI)

2 - Their past and future opponents did not fare well. Butler lost to Wisc-Mil and Morehead State lost to Eastern Kentucky as double-digit favorites. Eastern Illinois and Valporaiso lost games where they were a slight favorite. The EIU game especially hurt because Ball State has played them twice.

3 - A poor conference in general. With conference play in full swing, the MAC is ranked 17th out of the 33 conferences. With the top team Kent State ranked 89th and Miami OH ranked 91st, the competition is not there for BSU to get to where they need to be. With 5 of the top 6 conference teams in the MAC East, BSU only plays them one time while feasting on the West division where the second highest team is ranked 215th.

If BSU wins the rest of their games (excluding the unknown Bracket Buster opponent), they are projected to finish 61st in the RPI, which merits consideration for an at-large bid. But, with a 1-3 record against the Top 100 RPI and a stunning loss to D-2 Alaska-Anchorage, that consideration will be minimal.

The trek begins tonight when the Cards host Morehead State. MSU is one of the tougher teams that BSU will face in their remaining games. Morehead State is 12-8 and is led by Kenneth Faried (17ppg, 14rpg) and Demonte Harper (16ppg). BSU is led by Jarrod Jones (16ppg, 9rpg) and Randy Davis (11ppg, 6apg, 4rpg).

Brownsburg's poor first half finally catches up with them

Since winning the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec 29th, the Brownsburg girls basketball team has struggled in the first half of their games. That did not change on Saturday against Westfield. After starting the game without 2 of their top 3 scorers on the floor, Westfield went to the locker room with a 33-13 lead. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 9 points late in the game, but ended up on the losing side of a 66-53 final.

If you take out the Zionsville game, the Dogs have been outscored by 29 points in the first half of the games since Dec 29th. The Dogs came back to win all but two of those games due to inferior opponents, but it is troubling to see a team that is this good get complacent in the first 16 minutes of play.

There are 4 games left in the regular season: at Beech Grove on Wednesday, home against Fishers on Saturday and home games with Lebanon and Brebeuf on Feb 2nd and 4th. They are heavily favored in these games, but if they don't figure out their first half woes, they could get a scare from these teams. I hope they figure this all out before the tournament begins in 3 weeks.