Something I read
Something I read
FACTS & STATS: Site: Henderson Arena (9,043) -- Huntington, West Virginia. Television: Local. Home Record: Ball St. 7-1, Marshall 5-3. Away Record: Ball St. 4-3, Marshall 3-3. Neutral Record: Ball St. 2-2, Marshall 1-3. Conference Record: Ball St. 6-2, Marshall 3-5. Series Record: Ball State leads, 4-3.
GAME NOTES: East meets West tonight as the Ball State Cardinals, leaders in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference, travel to Huntington to take on the Thundering Herd of Marshall at Henderson Arena. Ball State had run off six straight wins leading into its contest on Saturday with the RedHawks of Miami-Ohio. The streak come to an end however, in a close affair, as Miami emerged with the 80-77 victory. It was the Cardinals second conference loss of the year. Meanwhile, the Herd, which at one point in the season had won seven of nine contests, have now dropped three of their last four outings. On Saturday it was the Toledo Rockets that took Marshall apart and won by 10 points, 77-67. This game marks just the eighth meeting all-time between these two schools on the hardwood, with the Cardinals having claimed four of the first seven encounters.
Ball State found itself behind by 14 points at the break over the weekend, but a valiant effort in the second half brought the Cardinals back to within striking distance. Theron Smith scored 20 points to lead four players in double figures in the loss. Patrick Jackson added 18 points, while ChrisWilliams shot a blistering 54.4 percent from the field and was 11-of-24 from behind the three-point line. It was at the foul line however, where this game was decided. Miami shot 19-of-24, while Ball State converted only 4-of-9 from the stripe in the contest. Smith has become one of the most potent offensive players in the conference this season, averaging team-highs with 18.9 points and 11.1 rebounds a game. Jackson isn't that far behind in the point production with his 18.2 ppg and is leading the squad with his passing with just over three and a half assists per outing as well. A potent inside/outside attack has fueled BSU's success thus far.
Like the Cardinals, the Thundering Herd also found themselves down by nearly double digits to Toledo over the weekend, and a second-half effort still came up short. Tamar Slay scored a team-high 17 points for Marshall, followed by Ronald Blackshear and Latece Williams with 15 and 10 points, respectively. J.R. Vanhoose had a disappointing effort, scoring only four points, on 1-of-5 shooting from the field, while pulling down just four rebounds because of foul trouble. The team was thumped on the glass by a count of 42-25 and were thoroughly defeated at the free-throw line where they were just 7-of-12, compared to 23-of-29 for the Rockets. Slay is leading the scoring attack for the Herd with 18.9 ppg. Blackshear, having played in only half of team's games thus far, is second with 17 ppg, followed by Vanhoose (15.2 ppg) and Williams (11.8 ppg). Despite his lackluster showing three days ago, Vanhoose is still one of the strongest rebounders in the conference at 10.6 rpg.
Unless Vanhoose can get control of his game and stay on the court during crucial junctures for the Thundering Herd, they have very little chance of upsetting the Cardinals in this game. Then again, even if he does show up, he'll be overshadowed by Smith anyway
