Sycamores come from behind for win at Ball State

Indiana State overcame a 15-point second-half deficit Friday night with a gritty defensive effort and clutch play off the bench by Chance Puryear and Duce Paschal, while Karmani Gregory added his second consecutive 20-point performance in a 69-66 nonconference men's basketball win over Ball State inside Worthen Arena. The Sycamores trailed 51-36 with 14:54 left in the second half as Ball State’s Mason Jones pulled down the offensive rebound and put the ball back in the basket to give the Cardinals their largest lead of the night. "I called a timeout and I told [the Sycamores] they're winners and winners compete, they play hard and they don't look for people to bail them out," said ISU coach Matthew Graves. Gregory sparked the Sycamore comeback following a Kade Speckman steal as the Indiana State guard drove in for the layup on the next possession. Puryear followed with a steal and layup of his own, before Meechie White drilled a three-pointer from just to the right of the top of the key to make it a 53-43 game with 12:45 to play. The comeback continued on a Jackson Cooper steal and pass ahead to Puryear for the breakaway layup to cut the deficit down to single digits. The score stayed a double-digit lead as Ball State 60-50 lead with 9:25 to play following an Aaron Fine layup, before the Sycamores took control of the contest. Paschal converted a pair of free throws, before recording a steal and layup to cut the deficit down to 60-54. Puryear and Gregory followed a minute later with back-to-back three-pointers to make it a 62-60 game with 5:32 to play in the contest. Paschal again made it to the free throw line, this time following an offensive rebound and drawing the foul, and the sophomore guard sank both attempts to tie the game 62-62. Maguire Mitchell followed on the next possession with a driving layup to the basket to give the Sycamores the lead at the 3:55 mark. It was Indiana State’s first lead in the contest since the 1:40 mark in the first half. The Sycamores turned it over to Cooper late and the forward delivered in the clutch with a tip-in layup with 1:32 remaining to make it a 66-63 game. Following a pair of Ball State free throws, Cooper again came through on the offensive glass with another tip-in layup with just under 10 seconds left in the contest to stake Indiana State to the 68-65 lead. The teams swapped free throws late with Gregory converting from the line with just under three seconds remaining and the Ball State desperation heave went long as the Sycamores secured their fifth consecutive win over the Cardinals. Indiana State built a double-digit first-half lead with 10:26 on the clock as Speckman sprinted past the BSU defense and went in for the dunk off the pass from E.J. McQuillan to put the game at 22-12. The Sycamores continued to press their advantage early as Paschal drove in for a layup and Mitchell converted a pair from the free throw line to keep the score at 26-17 with 7:21 to play. Ball State took advantage of the Sycamores struggling from the floor the rest of the half led by Sean Blake’s 13 points and Javion Guy-King’s 12 points off the bench on their way to going on a 20-4 run. The Cardinals led 37-30 with five seconds remaining, before White converted a pair of free throws just before the break to send the teams into the half with Indiana State trailing 37-32. "[The Cardinals] kind of punked us at the end of the first half," Cooper said after the game, "but in the second half it was all about us being the aggressor." Gregory finished with his second consecutive 20-point game while adding three assists. Cooper added 12 points and seven rebounds with nine points and six boards coming in the second-half comeback. Puryear scored all eight of his points in the second half, while Paschal added eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the victory. "I'm extremely proud of this group," Graves said. "They showed a lot of resilience and toughness." INDIANA STATE (69) — Cooper 5-11 0-0 12, Calamita 0-1 0-0 0, McQuillan 2-3 0-2 6, Gregory 5-13 8-10 20, Mitchell 2-7 2-2 6, Puryear 3-6 1-2 8, Vlajic 0-2 0-0 0, Paschal 2-8 4-5 8, Speckman 1-2 0-0 2, White 2-3 2-2 7, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 FG, 17-23 FT, 69 TP. BALL STATE (66) — Durodola 1-2 -2 2, Jones 2-5 1-2 5, Blake 7-15 6-9 20, Lewis 2-8 0-0 4, Parker 5-11 0-0 12, Fine 1-1 0-1 2, McGrew 2-3 2-2 6, Guy-King 4-8 6-10 15, McGilveary 0-1 0-0 0, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 FG, 15-26 FT, 66 TP. Halftime score — BSU 37, ISU 32. Total fouls — ISU 22, BSU 22. Fouled out — Lewis. Turnovers — ISU 14 (Cooper 4, Gregory 4, McQuillan 2, Mitchell, Paschal, Team 2), BSU 14. Rebounds — ISU 36 (Paschal 11, Cooper 7, Calamita 4, Vlajic 3, McQuillan 2, Puryear 2, Speckman 2, Team 4), BSU 36 (Jones 7, Guy-King 7). Assists — ISU 10 (Gregory 3, Cooper 2, McQuillan 2, Calamita, Mitchell, Paschal), BSU 7 (Blake 4). Steals — ISU 7 (Paschal 2, Cooper, McQuillan, Mitchell, Puryear, Speckman), BSU 6 (McGrew 3). Blocks — ISU 0, BSU 2 (Blake, McGrew). Next — ISU (1-1) hosts Milwaukee on Wednesday. Ball State (0-2) hosts Brescia on Monday.