Ball State men's basketball shows toughness on big stage in near comeback v. Indiana State

INDIANAPOLIS — Toward the midway point of Saturday's second half in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Ball State men's basketball was in danger of being embarrassed.

The Cardinals' formidable opponent, Indiana State, was trending toward another resume-building blowout in the Indy Classic, leading by 23 points with 12:29 minutes remaining.

BSU wilted in similar circumstances on the road previously this season, losing by 24 points at Evansville and 26 points at Little Rock. Rather than fall victim to bad habits again, Ball State this time battled back and cut its deficit to as few as four points with 1:32 left.

Although the Sycamores (10-1) survived to win 83-72, these Cardinals (8-3) proved, for the first time outside of Worthen Arena, that they have fight.

"We've got to be better at overcoming difficult things and we had a stretch there at the end of the first half that ignited a 15-4 run that gave them an 11-point lead at half," head coach Michael Lewis said. "We didn't come out of halftime great, but then we responded in a way that we had not up until today. So disappointed in the result, (but) proud of how we competed because I think we grew as a team and got better and learned a lot about ourselves."

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The run featured highlights from Davion Bailey, playing in his first contest since suffering a lower-leg injury on Nov. 24. He looked rusty off the bench to start but eventually found his stroke, scoring 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting and making both of his 3-point attempts.

The Indianapolis native called it a "blessing" to play well in his hometown.

"It felt good. I was able to move back to normal, get my legs under me," Bailey said of returning from injury. "I've just been working with my trainer, getting in everyday trying to rep out things and get my body back right."

Lewis said he wasn't sure that the junior JUCO transfer would be ready in time for game action because he "wasn't moving great" in his two practices on Thursday and Friday, yet he's happy to have Bailey back because his presence is key to the offensive system.

"His ability to stretch the floor just gives you another offensive weapon, and you don't want to get too reliant on Jalin (Anderson) and Basheer (Jihad)," Lewis said. "The last four games, we haven't been able to run a lot of offense. We started four forwards and a guard, and a lot of our things that we had in we couldn't run, and so we were just kind of offensively on the fly, picking on mismatches. Our guys did a great job, but now we can get back to kind of being who we thought we could be at the beginning of the year."

Anderson was the most consistent player throughout, scoring a team-high 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, yet it was freshman Mason Jones who ignited the Cardinals' hot streak with his high motor and shot making.

Always an energizer, Jones parlayed his hustle with an offensive outburst, notching a career-high 12 points. Lewis, who joked earlier this season that Jones had "no idea what he's doing" offensively, hopes the performance fosters more confidence.

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BSU's primary downfalls, however, were 10 first-half turnovers, defensive lapses, streaky shooting and junior Basheer Jihad having his worst game of the season.

The breakout big man entered averaging 19.3 points per game but managed just 10 on 3-for-10 shooting with four turnovers, with almost all of his success coming in a brief stretch midway through the second half.

He appeared rushed and out of rhythm from the start, struggling to adapt to ISU's physical game plan against him. Lewis viewed it as a learning experience rather than a letdown.

"He hasn't been the guy on the scouting report until this year," Lewis said. "He's gonna grow as a player. He's gonna watch the film, he's gonna learn from it, he's gonna get in the gym. Unfortunately, you don't learn how to handle those situations until you go through them, and he just turned 20 the other day."

In what many expected to be a mismatch, the Cardinals showcased resilience and potential, both of which are still unproven with their mostly new and inexperienced roster.

Ball State has another daunting road matchup on Dec. 21 at Minnesota (8-3) at 8 p.m. The team hopes it found some momentum away from Muncie it can build on.

"The 30 minutes that I think were really good, if we play that way, we're gonna win our fair share of games. We just got to eliminate that 10-minute stretch that I feel like really hurt us," Lewis said. "But that 10-minute stretch two weeks ago was 20-25 minutes. So we're growing as a team and this experience today is only going to help us."

Joey Brown suspended

In a surprise announcement Saturday morning, Lewis announced that freshman Joey Brown is suspended by the team for not upholding the "program's standards when it comes to his academic work."

Before concluding his press conference, Lewis added detail to the reasoning for the disciplinary measure, specifically that Brown remains eligible by NCAA guidelines.

"He did not flunk off the team. He did not flunk out of school. He is 100% eligible," Lewis said. "It is a decision that's been made by me because he hasn't met the standards of our program from an academic standpoint. He's a good kid, he's intelligent, he's articulate. He made a poor decision, as a lot of the young kids do, and he's going to be held accountable. He's accepted that responsibility and he's going to learn and grow from it and I expect him to be back with our team very shortly once he handles that business.

"But I did see some things on social media that were 100% inaccurate. He's just being held to a higher standard and the standard that he chose to be a part of when he came to Ball State."

Gus Martin is a sports reporter at The Star Press. Follow him on X (platform formerly known as Twitter) @GusMartin_SP, and contact him at gmartin@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State basketball near comeback vs. Indiana State in Indy Classic