Ball State Earns 7th Straight Victory With Win Over JSU
Friday's Scoreboard
Ball State 70, Jackson State 54
Central Michigan 70, Green Bay 52
Western Michigan 66, Milwaukee 63
USC 84, Akron 53
Oakland 86, Eastern Michigan 81
Stories Courtesy of the Associated Press
Ball State 70, Jackson State 54
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Kyle Mallers, Sean Sellers and Francis Kiapway each scored 11 points and Ball State won its seventh straight game, knocking off Jackson State, 70-54 on Friday night.
The Cardinals, who also have won their last seven straight home games, have won seven straight for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Ball State shot 50 percent from the field, hitting 23 of 46, and knocked down 11 of 27 from behind the 3-point arc. The Cardinals also dominated on the boards, pulling down 39 caroms, 13 more than the Tigers.
The game was tied at 19-19 with 4:37 left, but Mallers scored on a layup and Kiapway hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 27-19 and the Cardinals pushed that lead to 31-23 at intermission.
Paris Collins finished with 17 points to lead Jackson State (3-10), which hit just 21 of 58 shots from the floor (36.2 percent).
Central Michigan 70, Green Bay 52
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Cecil Williams scored 17 points with eight rebounds, Shawn Roundtree scored 13 with seven boards and Central Michigan handled SIU-Edwardsville 70-52 on Friday night.
Luke Meyer added 12 points with nine rebounds, Josh Kozinski scored 12 and David DiLeo grabbed nine rebounds for the Chippewas (10-2).
Christian Ellis led SIU-Edwardsville (4-7) with 14 points and eight rebounds and Justin Benton scored 10. The Cougars were 22-of-61 shooting (36 percent) and went to the free-throw line only five times.
Central Michigan also struggled shooting (21 of 62, 34 percent) but were 21 of 26 from the free-throw line and took advantage of 23 foul calls against the Cougars. Williams was 11 of 13 from the line.
The Chippewas have won nine of 10 and have scored 70 or more points in 10 games this season.
Western Michigan 66, Milwaukee 63
Box Score
MILWAUKEE -- Thomas Wilder scored 16 points and blocked a 3-point attempt with a second left and Western Michigan beat Milwaukee 69-66 on Friday night.
With seven seconds to go, Brandon Johnson made the first and missed the second free throw to put the Broncos ahead 66-63. Brock Stull grabbed the rebound and threw ahead to Jeremy Johnson who raced to the right wing to get off the 3-attempt.
Johnson initially had an open look before a sprinting Wilder chased him down, leaped and deflected the shot and Western Michigan (7-5) secured it as time expired.
Wilder made a pair of free throws with 14 seconds to go for a 65-60 Broncos lead before Jeremiah Bell buried a 3 five seconds later. Wilder made 6 of 7 shots, including a pair of 3s, had six rebounds and passed out five assists.
Stull led Milwaukee (7-6) with 23 points on 6-for-11 shooting behind the 3-point line.
USC 84, Akron 53
Box Score
HONOLULU -- Elijah Stewart scored 20 points, Chimezie Metu 16 and Jonah Mathews 13 and Southern California rallied past Akron for an 84-53 win in a first-round game of the Diamond Head Classic Friday.
USC (7-4) overcame a nine-point deficit in the first half and narrowed the deficit to 33-29 at halftime. The Trojans emerged from the break on a 20-5 run with Stewart and Metu scoring 15 to put USC up 49-38 with 14:39 to play.
The Trojans shot 61 percent (17 of 28) from the field in the second half and were 27 of 55 (49.1) overall.
"If you play poorly enough long enough eventually you get tired of it, and I think our players got tired of playing below their capabilities," ISC coach Andy Enfield said.
"And tonight they came out in the second half -- really, we started to play better at the end of the first half -- and played more as a team and in the second half we were terrific as a team," Enfield said.
Stewart, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, shot 6 of 14 from the field, but made three of his seven attempts from beyond the arc, and was 5 of 6 at the free-throw line. He scored 15 of his points after halftime.
USC was 10 of 23 deep and 20 of 27 at the free throw line.
Jaden Sayles scored 12 points and Daniel Utomi and Eric Parris added 11 apiece for Akron (6-3).
The Trojans mixed up their defenses, but primarily utilized a 2/3 zone. Consequently, Akron shot just 32 percent (16 of 50) from the field for the game.
"We've been really good against zone up today," Zips coach John Groce said. "When we have seen it, we've usually tore it up, to be honest. Today we weren't quite as good. Now, what I will tell you is they're very big, they're very long and they cover a lot of ground in that zone."
Oakland 86, Eastern Michigan 81
Box Score
ROCHESTER, Mich. -- Jalen Hayes scored a career-high 37 points with 14-for-21 shooting and hauled in eight rebounds to lead Oakland to an 86-81 win over Eastern Michigan on Friday night.
Kendrick Nunn added 20 points, including four 3-pointers, Martez Walker had 12 points and Nick Daniels got 10 for Oakland, which shot 51 percent to avenge a Dec. 6 loss to Eastern Michigan. Hayes was 9 for 11 from the free-throw line.
Oakland (8-5) took the lead for good late in the opening half with a 9-0 run fueled by Hayes, who scored seven of the points, to make it 33-24 with three minutes left to intermission.
Trailing by 12 at the break, Eastern Michigan (8-3) chipped away in the second half, cutting the deficit to 77-74 with a 7-0 burst that included a 3-pointer from Elijah Minnie and dunk from James Thompson with 1:14 left to play.
Daniels stretched the Oakland advantage back to six with a 3-pointer at the other end and the Golden Grizzlies hung on with 6-for-6 shooting from the free-throw line to seal it.
Paul Jackson scored 25 points and dished out six assists to lead four Eastern Michigan players in double figures.
