by MUNCIE, Ind. — For the first time since Nov. 15, Ball State men’s basketball returned to Worthen Arena Tuesday evening.
The Cardinals (3-7) hosted South Dakota State (6-5) in a contest that saw sophomore guard Joey Hart return to the Ball Starting lineup. Hart has been out due to a foot injury most of the season. Though he came off the bench in the Cardinals’ 62-54 loss to Evansville Dec. 3, this was his first time playing longer than two minutes.
“I was a little bit nervous, for sure,” Hart said. “But once I got out there, it was just basketball.”
Though he scored a career-high 18 points in his home debut, the effort was soured by the result as the Cardinals fell 68-64 to the Jackrabbits. It was Ball State’s second-straight loss, and they are now 1-7 in their last eight games.
“We’re getting better, but it’s another tough pill to swallow,” Ball State head coach Michael Lewis said.
Ball State’s return to Muncie started in its favor as the Cardinals led 11-4 at the 16:47 mark of the first half. Hart immediately made an impact as he hit the game’s opening shot — a 3-pointer. Following that, the Cardinals continued to show progress from the offensive front as they found momentum throughout the first half.
At the break, they led South Dakota State 40-39. In the first period, they only committed three turnovers and had 10 assists. Overall, Ball State finished the game with just seven turnovers and had 18 assists, the Cardinals’ second-highest total of the season.
“People can’t tell us we’re not making steps and we’re not making progress towards the ultimate goal,” redshirt sophomore forward Kayden Fish said. “Whether that’s a win or whether that’s just being comfortable with how we play, we’re putting the pieces together.”
But the second half saw some issues. One, the Cardinals experienced multiple scoring droughts, including a 3:26 scoreless run that ended the game. In that time, they were 1-for-7 in their final eight shots.
In the second half, Ball State went 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from the floor and 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) from 3-point range. The Jackrabbits, on the other hand, were 11-for-15 (44.0) and 3-for-7 (42.9 percent) in the half.
After taking a 64-54 lead at the 7:29 mark, South Dakota State was in the driver’s seat for a few minutes. But a 10-2 scoring run by the Cardinals made it a 64-62 ball game. However, once again, Ball State could not get over the hump as Fish was called for a travel on the Cardinals’ final possession before free throws closed out the game for the Jack Rabbits.
After the loss, Hart said it was easy to understand what happened.
“I feel like down the stretch, sometimes we just make dumb mistakes to be honest,” Hart said. Maybe we just lose focus. I’m not really sure, but we just got to clean those up.”
Fish — who also had a season and career-high 12 points — agreed with his teammate and said that the team has to gravitate around the idea of not stopping.
“Don’t let up, especially when going into halftime with momentum,” Fish said. “You have to come back from halftime and keep the foot on their neck.”
The Cardinals are one game away from Mid-American Conference play. Their next contest Saturday, Dec. 14, is on the road as they face Campbell at 2 p.m. Lewis said he wants to see the team work on their effort to keep fighting. During the press conference, he said some players, including freshman center Preston Copeland, need to keep giving their best.
“The thing I was disappointed in is that he got scored on the first two possessions in the game, and he said he was ‘tired’. There were two minutes in the game, man. You’re not tired,” Lewis said. “You compete, fight and stand in there and figure it out.
“It’s not just Preston, but just throughout our whole team … Everybody in the athletic world is listening to Curt Signetti right now, and he’s got that quote about every play has a life of its own. To a certain extent, every play in basketball has its own life, right? You just don’t get a 40-second break in between them. When that play’s over, you’ve got to flush it. You’ve got to move to the next thing.”
However, the fourth-year Ball State coach said leadership — in that category and in general — is still missing from this roster, and that only a few players have tried to take on that role.
“I think we have some guys who have the characteristics to do that,” Lewis said. “But to do that, you’ve got to be an everyday guy. We’re just not quite there yet.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
