Tuesday's Scoreboard
Ball State 83, Purdue Fort Wayne 52
Buffalo 71, Canisius 55
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Ball State 83, Purdue Fort Wayne 52
Box Score
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Cardinals staggering 65 percent shooting in the opening 10 minutes of action set the tone for tonight's contest as Ball State went on to defeat Purdue Fort Wayne, 83-52, Tuesday night at the Gates Sports Center for its first win of the season.
Ball State improves to 1-1 on the season while Purdue Fort Wayne falls to 2-1 overall. The Cardinals also remain undefeated in the all-time series against the Mastodons, improving to 6-0.
Freshman Sydney Freeman and sophomore Thelma Dis Agustsdottir got things started offensively for Ball State with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Cardinals an early 6-0 edge over the Mastodons, all in the first two minutes of action. Redshirt freshman Anna Clephane knocked down two jumpers, stretching the Cardinals lead to 13-3 by the first official timeout with 5:16 left in the first quarter. After the timeout, the Cardinals used a 13-8 run to close out the quarter with a 26-11 lead over the Mastodons.
Clephane kicked things off in the second period knocking down a 3-point basket to push Ball State's lead even further. Ball State maintained its up-tempo offense to take a 45-27 advantage over Purdue Fort Wayne at intermission. For the half, Ball State shot 56 percent (18-32) from the field while limiting the Mastodons to 35 (10-28) percent shooting.
The Cardinals came out storming in the third quarter, outscoring the Mastodons 17-9 to take a 26-point (62-36) cushion into the final stanza. Ball State would carry out its momentum the remainder of the contest for its first victory of the season.
Ball State had an impressive showing from its bench with 41 points scored. The Cardinals were led in scoring by Clephane with 16 points off 6-of-7 shooting from floor while sophomore Blake Smith, junior Jasmin Samz and freshman Estel Puiggros each finished the night with 10 points. Defensively, junior Oshlynn Brown and senior Arbrie Benson had seven rebounds apiece.
The Cardinals dominated the paint, scoring 32 points while allowing 10 to Purdue Fort Wayne. Ball State also led in the rebound column, outworking the Mastodons 43-26.
The Ball State women's basketball team will close its three-game road swing Saturday at Cincinnati. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 2 p.m. The Cardinals defeated the Bearcats last season in Worthen Arena, 75-63.
Buffalo 71, Canisius 55
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – Senior guard Theresa Onwuka set a new-career high with 30 points as the University at Buffalo women's basketball team defeated Big 4 rival Canisius 71-55 at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night to start 3-0 for the fifth straight season.
Onwuka recorded a career-high for the third straight game with another efficient shooting performance as she went 11-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, while also pulling down nine rebounds and collecting three steals.
Freshman Dyaisha Fair continued to impress as she recorded her third straight 20+ point game with 24 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal.
It was a slow start as neither team recorded a bucket for the first two plus minutes of play. Canisius took an early 4-0 lead but the Bulls responded with an 11-0 run to take an 11-4 lead at the first media timeout. The Bulls would continue the run out of the timeout as they extended the lead to 21-7 on an Onwuka transition layup and back-to-back threes by Fair and UB would take a 21-10 lead at the end of the first.
The Canisius offense came alive to start the second quarter as the Golden Griffins used a 12-5 run to cut the UB lead to 26-22 at the 4:56 mark. The Bulls would respond with a 7-0 run, led by four straight points by Onwuka and a Marissa Hamilton bucket, to go back up by double digits, 37-24, with 2:18 remaining in the half, but D'Jhai Patterson-Ricks and AJ Tibers would bury a pair of triples in the final minutes of the half to close on a 6-2 run and trim the UB lead to 39-30 at the break.
After another slow start to the third quarter for both teams, Canisius cut the UB lead to 47-37 at the 6:10 mark, but UB responded with 8-2 run on a pair of triples from Fair to go back up 55-39 at the media timeout. The Bulls would continue to get hot from deep as Fair knocked down a triple off the assist from Loren Christie and then two possessions later hit a three in transition to go up 55-39. Buffalo continued to turn defense into offense as a block from Hamilton turned into a transition bucket for Onwuka on the other end to give UB a 57-41 lead with 2:11 to go in the quarter. In total, UB outscored Canisius 22-13 in the third quarter to break the game open and take a 61-43 lead through three quarters of play.
Canisius used 7-3 run to start the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 64-50 and force a UB timeout with 6:17 to go. A couple possessions later, Onwuka knocked down a mid-range jumper to set her new career high and put the Bulls up 66-50 and that would be all they would need to secure the victory.
The Bulls shot 38.8% from the floor and 33.3% from beyond the arc on the night. Buffalo outrebounded Canisius 47-34 and turned 22 Golden Griffins turnovers into 16 fastbreak points, while also outscoring the visitors 24-18 in the paint. The Bulls are now a perfect 41-0 over the last three seasons when holding opponents to 59 points or less.
The Bulls return to action on Friday, November 15, as they host Columbia at 7pm. Friday will also be the unveiling of the 2018-19 MAC Championship banner.
