After giving up 188 points in two games, the men's basketball team returned home with hopes of tightening up its defense and breaking out of a slump.
The Bulls (10-7, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) played better defensive Thursday night but extended their season-long losing streak to three, falling to the hot shooting Ball State Cardinals (10-9, 4-3 MAC), 75-69.
Even though the Bulls played better on the defensive end, head coach Reggie Witherspoon realizes the team needs to be better.
'We still have to do better defensively and our guys know that,' Witherspoon said.
Utilizing a 9-for-11 performance from 3-point range, the Cardinals overcame 25 turnovers to hold off a late run by the Bulls.
With all hope seemingly lost for Buffalo, sophomore forward Titus Robinson started a 10-0 run for the Bulls with a powerful dunk with 3:49 remaining in the game. The slam came after an offensive rebound by Robinson and energized a Bulls' squad that looked tired for the first 36 minutes.
'We looked like we didn't have enough energy to get the ball to the rim,' Witherspoon said. 'It's disheartening.'
After the Robinson dunk, senior guard Sean Smiley took over and made the next eight points for the Bulls to close the gap to 66-65 with 1:46 left.
The crowd of 1,781 erupted and Ball State head coach Billy Taylor called a time out with hopes of ending the Buffalo run.
After the time out, the Cardinals took the shot clock down to single-digits before sophomore guard Randy Davis inserted the dagger into the Bulls with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to insure the win.
Davis and freshman standout Jauwan Scaife couldn't be stopped from long distance. The two combined to shoot 9-for-13 from the field and made all nine 3-point baskets for the Cardinals.
Witherspoon went into the game knowing his team would be hard pressed to knock off Ball State.
'They're a team that doesn't usually get blown out,' Witherspoon said. 'They're going to keep fighting and they fought long enough until we got ourselves into a situation where we started to play with a bit to much desperation. We have to get back to playing a complete game.'
Senior forward Max Boudreau had a big impact off the bench for the Bulls. He scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, six of which were on the offensive end.
The senior combo of Smiley and senior guard Rodney Pierce struggled in the game, shooting a combined 28 percent from the field and just 17 percent from downtown.
Pierce thinks the offensive struggles will be fixed only after the team starts playing better defense.
'We just have to get back to playing better defense,' Pierce said. 'That brings rhythm on offense and then guys have to know, when they're open to shoot it.'
The post game statistics mirrored a different game than the one that took play. Buffalo won the turnover battle 25-6 and outshot the Cardinals 79-40, yet lost its first home game since a Nov. 24 loss to Canisius.
Witherspoon wondered after the game if stats like that would ever be possible again.
'I don't know if you'll ever see that again,' Witherspoon said. 'We had twice as many offensive rebounds as them and a quarter of the turnovers they had. It'd be hard to stage it. It's almost impossible to do.'
Sophomore big man Jarrod Jones played tough down low for the Cardinals and scored 14 points and brought down six rebounds. Guard Terrence Watson added eight points and nine rebounds for Ball State, which finished with four players in double figures.
Taylor was relieved to get a tough road win, especially coming off two tough losses.
'Buffalo is a tough place to play,' Taylor said. 'Reggie always does such a great job preparing his kids and they play so hard and with so much passion.'
With almost no time to recover, the Bulls head back on the road for a Saturday afternoon battle with MAC foe Northern Illinois Huskies. Tip off is set for 1 p.m.
Email: sports@ubspectrum.com
