Persons Highlights Cardinals Victory Over Howard
Thursday's Scoreboard
Ball State 98, Howard 71
Miami 79, South Carolina State 55
Northern Kentucky 65,
Northern Illinois 62
Purdue 95,
Ohio 67
Stories Courtesy of Associated Press
Ball State 98, Howard 71
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Tayler Persons scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting Thursday night and Ball State made 14 3-pointers in a 98-71 victory over Howard.
Tahjai Teague added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds for the Cardinals (8-4), who have won seven of eight. Ball State shot 34 of 58 (59 percent) from the field and 14 of 29 (48 percent) from 3-point range.
Ishmael El-Amin scored 15 in his first career start and Kyle Mallers and Zach Gunn added 12 points each. Persons was 3 of 5 from 3-point range and Mallers hit 4 of 7.
Ball State opened the game with an 18-6 lead, but Howard responded to go in front at 28-24. The Cardinals retook the lead for good with an 8-0 run and pulled away in the second half to lead by as many as 33.
Charles Williams and Raymond Bethea Jr. had 14 points each for the Bison (6-6), who lost their third straight. RJ Cole and Kyle Foster added 11 points apiece.
Miami 79, South Carolina State 55
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio -- Nike Sibande had 24 points and Jalen Adaway 18 as Miami (Ohio) ran past South Carolina State 79-55 on Thursday night.
Miami (Ohio), which has won four of its last five games, regrouped after falling to Northern Kentucky on Sunday.
Sibande, who scored 18 in the first half, finished with 24 points, hitting 9 of 16 from the floor. Adaway made 8 of 11 field-goal attempts. Dalonte Brown added 11 and Darrian Ringo had six assists and five steals for the Redhawks (7-5).
South Carolina State trailed 21-20 with 8:46 remaining in the first half. Sibande and Brown drained back-to-back 3s to rally as the Redhawks finished the first half on a 28-6 run to lead 49-26. The Bulldogs rallied in the final half to close to 59-37 after a Lavar Harewood jumper capped the run at the 12:26 mark.
Damani Applewhite had 13 points to go with seven rebounds for the Bulldogs (2-12).
Northern Kentucky 65, Northern Illinois 62
Box Score
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- Drew McDonald had 15 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and Northern Kentucky beat Northern Illinois 65-62 on Thursday night.
Jalen Tate scored five of his 14 points in the final two minutes, including a layup with 16 seconds left that made it 64-61 for the Norse (10-3). Eugene Germansplit a pair of free throws with 5 seconds left for the Huskies (6-5) and Tyler Sharpe made 1 of 2 foul shots for Northern Kentucky to cap the scoring with 4 seconds left.
Dante Thorpe had a pair of 3-pointers that kept Northern Illinois alive in the final two minutes. The first cut the deficit to 60-56 with 1:46 to go and the second brought the Huskies within 62-61 with 41 seconds to go.
Sharpe and Tate added 14 points each for the Norse, who shot just 31 percent from the field but got to the foul line for 36 attempts, making 21.
German scored 18 and Thorpe 17 for the Huskies, who made just 4 of 9 from the foul line.
Purdue 95, Ohio 67
Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Matt Painter sensed Purdue needed a change Thursday.
So he inserted Evan Boudreaux into the starting lineup, watched Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline drive to the basket and saw a completely different team.
Edwards scored 30 points and Cline added 19 as the Boilermakers finally broke out of their offensive funk and ran away from Ohio 95-67 for their most lopsided victory this season.
"I thought we did a better job with our roles, keeping the ball in front of us," Painter said. "Offensively, we got some good looks and we took what they gave us."
Actually, the Boilermakers (7-5) seemed more content to take what they could.
With Edwards and Cline driving through the lane more often, it opened up the perimeter and the Bobcats (7-4) had no answers for the two-pronged attack.
The result: Purdue ended a two-game losing streak, won for only the second time in six games, finished with a season-high point total and hardly resembled the team that went nearly one full month without topping the 80-point mark.
While the Boilermakers seemed to find their comfort zone back inside Mackey Arena for the first time in two weeks, the other explanation may have been Painter's rare lineup change. Boudreaux started in place of center Matt Haarms, who was one of the Big Ten's top bench players last season.
And though Haarms' numbers looked mundane -- four points, four rebounds, no blocks -- the impact he made with the second unit was noticeable.
"Matt really had more energy when he came off the bench last year and we don't really play him much more this year than we did last year. I didn't realize that till I watched the tape," Painter said. "We need to get him in a mode where he can play with that energy."
It didn't take long to see the difference.
When Haarms entered with 15:52 left in the first half, the Boilermakers led 10-5. When he left, roughly four minutes later, Purdue led 26-7.
Coincidence? Not really.
"We weren't able to get position inside and we didn't attack very well," Ohio coach Saul Phillips said. "They came out very physical and very tough."
And the Bobcats never really recovered.
Ben Vander Plas rallied Ohio by making three of his four 3-pointers late in the first half to close the deficit to 49-36. Vander Plas and Teyvion Kirk each scored 15 for Ohio, which had a two-game winning streak end.
Jason Preston's 3 to open the second half got Ohio within 49-39 but Purdue closed out the win with a 15-2 spurt that made it 70-45 with 11:33 to go.
