After Ball State (8-8, 2-2 MAC) downed Bowling Green 91-69 in one of the Cardinals' most dominant showings on Saturday, the team's energy was as high as it had been all season. Carrying the momentum into the Cardinals' next contest against Ohio (10-6, 4-0 MAC) was crucial to their continued success. However, the Cardinals ran into the preseason selection to win the MAC in the Bobcats, and it showed on Tuesday evening.

“They whipped us in every way, shape and form tonight,” Ball State head coach Michael Lewis said. “From beginning to the end our defense was very poor, and that really let us down tonight.”

The red and black struggled defensively to maintain the home team as the Cardinals fell on the road 71-86 to the Bobcats. 

In the early going the offenses for both sides were clicking and it was a back and forth affair. For Ball State, redshirt senior Mickey Pearson Jr. was the primary weapon for the road team in the first half. Pearson scored 17 points in the half, ending the night with 19 points to lead all scorers.

“I was able to get some open looks cutting off of Payton [Sparks],” Pearson Jr. said. “They were doubling him and I got a few passes off of that and knocked them down.”

With the offense flowing, in turn the defense struggled for Ball State as Ohio was able to get nearly anything they wanted offensively putting the Cardinals in a hole late in the first half. The effort for the red and black was not up to the standard Lewis wanted.

“We weren’t guarding the whole half,” Lewis said. “Just because we were scoring some points and keep it close, didn’t mean anything. We couldn’t get the stops, or communicate defensively.”

Ohio was doing their best to prevent Cardinals leading scorer, junior Jermahri Hill, from getting to the basket. The Bobcat defenders made sure to keep Hill out on the perimeter and not allow him to get into the painted area.

The Alabama native, despite ending the night with 14 points, only shot 3-for-11 from the field with two of those baskets being two early threes. After that the Bobcats shut things down for Hill offensively.

“I had an off night,” Hill said. “I couldn’t get any comfortable looks, I was trying to force shots and I need to get back to the drawing board.”

Despite the struggles, Pearson’s first half scoring was able to keep the Cardinals within arms reach at halftime trailing by 10, 45-35.

The second half opened as a struggle for the visitors as the green and white were able to balloon their lead to 14 points only three minutes into the half. However, after a Cardinals timeout, Ball State started to show some fight clawing back and bringing the deficit to seven points.

Even with that fight from the red and black, they couldn’t get over the hump to get any closer. Turnovers plagued the Cardinals offense, who ended the game with 15 total turnovers which allowed the Bobcats to get out and run in transition.

“I thought some of our turnovers were selfish plays,” Lewis said. “We didn’t have the ball movement we needed and because of that we gave up 20 points in transition, and for us to get zero point off of turnovers I think says everything.”

Once the home team opened up their lead they never looked back, and Ball State never got back to within striking distance. 

“We weren’t prepared enough defensively and had a really poor game plan on the defensive end,” Lewis said. “So that starts with me, and we’ve got to correct it because we’ve been playing some good basketball recently and that’s why this is disappointing.”

Contact David Moore with comments at david.moore@bsu.edu or on X @gingninj63

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