by MUNCIE, Ind.- The Ball State Cardinals hosted the Northern Illinois Huskies in the second game of a Ball State women’s and mens double header. Ball State got the job done at home 58-53 in a very defensive-oriented matchup.
Ball State came into this game after winning two straight games against Ohio and Central Michigan. The Cardinals entered with a 2-5 record in the Mid American Conference and a 6-13 overall record.
NIU’s early offensive struggles
Both teams struggled to put points on the board in the first half, but NIU struggled mightily shooting from beyond the arch. With 3:54 left in the first half, they made none of their nine attempts from outside, and they failed to make a single outside shot out of 11 attempts.
The Huskies made their first three-point shot on their 16th attempt at the 14:10 mark in the second half.
The Huskies made just 34% of their shots in this game while making just four of the 28 attempts from outside.
Overall at halftime, NIU had 22 points. Eight of those 22 points came from the charity stripe, and they shot just 29% from the field.
Armoni Zeigler and Davion Hill are really good at playing basketball
Armoni Zeigler and Davion Hill carried a lot of the offensive load against the Huskies in their matchup.
Zeigler ended the game with 18 points and three rebounds on seven for 15 shooting and four for six shooting from beyond the arch.
Of the five three-point field goals that Ball State made throughout this game, Zeigler accounted for four of those makes.
In his last four games, Armoni Zeigler scored 30, 28, 17 and 18 points.
Davion Hill added to Ball State’s scoring with another 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Hill led the team in rebounds and made seven of his 13 field goal attempts.
Davion Hill missed some very important free throws, but he later made up for it by making his final two chances from the stripe. Those free throws gave ball state a five point lead to put the game out of reach with just five seconds on the clock.
Cardinals’ cold streaks
Ball State’s second half showed defensive struggles after having a shooting percentage of 50% early in the half. As the half progressed, the Cards cooled off to make one of their last eight shots at the 7:59 point in the second half.
That cold streak stretched to being only making one basket out of their last 10 attempts with 5:18 left to play. That stretch lasted seven minutes and four seconds. All of a sudden, NIU trailed by just three. That streak ended with an Armoni Zeigler three-point basket to turn it back into a two-possession lead.
Another side of the cold streak that took place was foul trouble. It’s hard to find the right rhythm in your offense without key players. Preston Copeland and Devon Barnes both held four fouls at that point and were on the bench.
Next up:
Ball State looks forward to playing at Toledo on Jan. 31.
Toledo holds a 4-3 MAC record and a 10-9 overall record while Ball State stands 3-5 in MAC play and a 7-13 overall record.
