Kent State University
14-5 (5-1MAC)
Ball State University
7-10(2-4MAC)
Hall's 32 points lead Flashes to road win at Ball State
1/24/2015 4:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MUNCIE, Ind. – A career day from Jimmy Hall helped Kent State extend a four-game winning streak with a 63-52 win over Ball State on Saturday at Worthen Arena. .
Hall worked over the Cardinals for 32 points on 14-of-17 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds as the Golden Flashes extended their run of victories over Ball State to 11 games dating back to Jan. 22, 2005.
More importantly, the Flashes improved to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in the Mid-American Conference and remained in first place in the East Division.
"Jimmy was just unstoppable and I continued to be really pleased with our defense," said Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff. "One of the keys to this stretch is the way we have been defending the three, and today we allowed a very good three-point shooting team to shoot just 4-of-17 (23 percent) from behind the arc."
Kent State took a 32-23 lead into the half as Hall scored 20 points while missing just one of the 10 shots he attempted. The Flashes turned up the defensive intensity after the break, holding the Cardinals to just 1-of-7 shooting from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.
The Flashes forced 16 turnovers, leading to a 15-9 scoring advantage. Kent State also outscored the Cardinals 36-26 in the paint, 14-9 on second-chance points, and 11-5 off the bench. The defense also held Ball State top scorer Zavier Turner scoreless in the first half. Turner came off the bench to score just five points overall.
All 11 of those bench points came from Kris Brewer, who hit 4-of-11 from the field in his 30 minutes. Devareaux Manley added 8 points while going 2-of-4 from three-point range. Derek Jackson scored six points in 37 minutes, but made his impact on defense with four steals while locking down Turner and the Cardinals backcourt. Jackson also had six assists.
Ball State was led by Sean Sellers' 16 points and six rebounds. Franko House and Bo Calhoun added 13 and 12 points respectively.
Kent State returns home to face Central Michigan on Tuesday before going back on the road to play Buffalo in a nationally-televised game on Friday night.
