March 1, 2011
Ball State (16-10, 9-5 MAC) at Ohio (19-7, 10-4 MAC)
I have 4 pep talks remaining and use all four before our upcoming game with Ball State. I want my backups to be as effective as possible.
Scouting
Ball State is led by their great poing guard Melvin Goins. Goins is the returning MAC player of the year and may well win it again this year. Goins is averaging 18.1 points per game and is their best 3 point shooter at 39%, and best free throw shooter at 82%.
After that SG Diarra and PF Monroe average about 10 points each.
We've got a size edge inside and must take advantage today.
Half
| Time
| OHIO
| BSU
| Notes
|
1
| 12:30
| 19
| 21
| UGH. We get out to a great start, we're up 19-10, dahi has 8, Turner 6. One turnover, one missed shot, 2 3's by Goins and a couple other quick buckets and Ball State is on an 11-0 run as I call a time out. Backups are in.
|
1
| 10:20
| 25
| 26
| You don't know who my 3rd string center is, you say? That's because I haven't typed his name a single time this season. Its Hope Meade, a freshman walkon. He's in the game because backup C Sessoms just picked up his 3rd foul in 2 minutes and 10 seconds of play.
|
1
| 7:30
| 32
| 28
| Great recovery by the backups. Delic has scored 5(or 7... I think 5 though) and has had a solid impact. Harris with 4, and the defense is obvoiusly playing well.
|
1
| 6:30
| 36
| 28
| We get 4 more, a dunk in transition from Delic and a jumper from Massey. Ball State burns another time out. My starters are ready to come back in but as long as the backups are on this roll why change anything?
|
1
| 5:00
| 40
| 30
| Starters are back in. Outstanding job by the backups to build this lead up.
|
1
| 2:45
| 42
| 40
| Ugh, 10-2 run by Ball State... UGH!
|
| HALF
| 50
| 43
| Strong finish to the half. Turner is easily the player of the half, he's hit 3 3 pointers, picked up a 3 point play on our last possession of the half, and has a total of 14 points. Freeman is ice cold, so is Pearson. Dahi has 10 poitns and is playing very well. Delic was great off the bench with 11 points.
They have 12 from Goins, 7 from Diarra. They're 7-21 from 3.
Big stat: 28-17 edge on the boards in our favor. We're killing them on the glass.
|
2
| 15:30
| 57
| 51
| We'd gone up by 12, 57-45, but they've run off 6 in a row, two turnovers on our part help that out. I burn a time out to settle my guys down.
|
2
| 13:00
| 57
| 56
| They're on a 11-0 run now. 
|
2
| 12:00
| 61
| 56
| Turner scores 4 in a row to end the run, then we get our backups into the game.
|
2
| 9:15
| 66
| 58
| A little run, and some good defense holding them to 2 points over the last 3 minutes, and we're back up by 8. Ball State calls a time out. They were resting all 5 starters and just brought them back in, so we'll see how things change.
|
2
| 6:30
| 72
| 65
| Massey with a couple nice buckets, Delic with a basket and a foul(but missed the FT), and we hold on to a 7 point lead, starters coming back in for the duration.
|
2
| 6:20
| 75
| 65
| They come out in a 3-2 defense, which they've done a few times. We've had good success with it, either finding the spacing problems and getting open 3's, or getting someone into the middle of the zone and drawing fouls. Here we get Turner an open 3.
|
2
| 3:00
| 83
| 73
| They've made a few 3's but Turner has really taken over the game for us, and I don't mean just getting fast break layups. Driving to the basket and dishing so Washington can get a bucket, hitting the open 3, driving past Goins for a layup in isolation, popping out of the lane after a cut for a 18 foot jumper... he's been a superstar for us today.
|
We still lead by 10 with 1:30 to go and seal up the game by making our free throws.
Ohio 94
Ball State 85
Great win. We've now beaten both Bowling Green and Ball State at home, and gotten crushed by them on the road. That leaves Akron as the only team in the conference that we haven't proven that we can beat.
Total Rebounds: Ohio 55, Ball State 38
Goins scored 16 and Diarra 20 for them, about what we expected, really holding Goins to 16 makes me happy.
Turner: 28 points
Freeman: 11 points
Washington: 7 points/7 boards
Pearson: 4 points/15 boards
Dahi: 12 points/12 boards
Delic: 15 points/6 boards
Turner came up so big today, but Delic deserves mention too. He was huge for our backup squad, getting us a number of key buckets, espicially in the first half when Ball State was on a big run and had taken the lead.