USC Upstate (0-1) @ Ball State (0-1)
Prestige 36 Ball State have been lacklaster of late, and have also brought in a first time coach to try turn things around, Edward Yarbrough. Yabrough was a long-time assistant who had bounced around at a bunch of schools before getting this shot at a head coaching gig. A decent recruiter and defensive coach, but bring nothing to the table as far as offense goes. The Cardinals dropped their opener to Southeast Missouri State, and will be looking for revenge over us at home. Their main threat is SF James Baker, a sweet stroking 3pt shooter, but they return their entire backcourt from last season, and all are capable players. They do have a lot of youth inside though.
From the opening tip however, it's clear Wade is going to have his way with the Cardinals. Their 3-2 zone was just not equipped to deal with someone like Wade down low, and backup PF/C Abram had another nice game off the bench as well. We pushed out to a 10 point lead mid-way through the first half, and despite some inspiring play by Cardinals forward James Baker in the 2nd half we held off the comeback and got away with an 8 point win!
Wade was huge for us, but I also got nice contributions from our bench in particular. Really didn't expect to take this game, so a very pleasant surprise on the road.
Code:
USC Upstate 82, Ball State 74
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USC Upstate (1-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Hal Wade C 30 9-15 2-5 1 4 1 2 20
James Cameron PF 16 1-2 2-3 0 4 2 5 4
Lewis Bumgardner SF 15 1-2 0-0 0 3 0 0 2
Chris Gilley SG 31 4-12 0-0 3 7 2 4 10
Ronald Aguilar PG 28 3-8 1-2 0 0 2 0 8
Arthur Davis SF 25 5-9 2-2 2 5 2 0 12
Ronald Oswalt PG 21 4-5 0-0 3 3 3 1 8
Joseph Abram PF 23 7-11 2-2 4 7 1 5 16
Jeremy Eley PF 11 1-1 0-1 1 3 1 1 2
Turnovers: 11 (J.Cameron 3, L.Bumgardner 2, A.Davis 3,
R.Oswalt 1, J.Abram 2)
Blocked Shots: 1 (A.Davis 1)
Steals: 8 (L.Bumgardner 1, C.Gilley 1, R.Aguilar 1,
A.Davis 3, R.Oswalt 2)
3P FGs: 3-10 (C.Gilley 2-5, R.Aguilar 1-2, A.Davis 0-2,
R.Oswalt 0-1)
Ball State (0-2, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chad Montgomery C 24 3-6 4-6 3 10 1 3 11
Basil Benton PF 9 1-1 0-0 0 2 1 4 2
James Baker PF 34 7-11 1-2 4 5 3 1 19
David Ellis SG 27 3-6 0-2 0 0 2 2 7
Barry Gonzales PG 35 5-14 0-0 2 3 5 1 15
Fredric Delapaz SG 24 2-6 2-2 0 0 3 2 6
Hartwig Denk SF 13 1-6 1-2 1 6 1 2 4
Louis Edmonson SG 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
Didi Kohl C 13 2-2 1-2 1 2 0 2 5
Aaron Armstrong SF 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
James Farley C 12 0-2 0-0 0 3 2 0 0
Kurtis Self PG 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2
Turnovers: 15 (C.Montgomery 1, B.Benton 2, J.Baker 3,
D.Ellis 1, B.Gonzales 2, F.Delapaz 2, H.Denk 4)
Blocked Shots: 3 (D.Kohl 1, A.Armstrong 1, J.Farley 1)
Steals: 6 (C.Montgomery 2, J.Baker 2, F.Delapaz 1,
D.Kohl 1)
3P FGs: 13-30 (C.Montgomery 1-1, J.Baker 4-7, D.Ellis
1-3, B.Gonzales 5-14, F.Delapaz 0-2, H.Denk 1-2,
L.Edmonson 1-1)
Player of Game: C Hal Wade (USC U)