MAC Men’s Basketball Daily Recap: 12/19/2016

Ball State Cardinals 61 - Longwood Lancers 45

Ball State played their 5th home game in a row, and capitalized, winning 4 out of the 5. Tonight, they played an over-matched Longwood team.

Longwood made a game of it early, actually taking the lead, 15-13 with 6:50 left in the first half. They only trailed at the half by 4, 23-19.

Sean Sellers hit three threes, and Ryan Weber added another in an early second half run to put the Cardinals up, 37-21.

They eventually pushed the lead to 61-33, before Ball State cleared their bench.

11 Cardinals saw action in the game. Off the bench, Francis Kiapway scored a team leading 10. Tahjai Teague and Jeremie Tyler added 8. Sean Sellers was the leading starter, with 9. Trey Moses added 5 points, with 11 rebounds and 4 assists.

JaShaun Smith, a 6’5 freshman led Longwood with 11 points. Khris Lane added 6 and 10 rebounds.

Longwood shot 36.5% from the floor, while Ball State shot 37.5%. Both teams hauled in 39 rebounds. The difference maker was 23 turnovers for Longwood, with just 13 for Ball State.

Syracuse Orange 105 - Eastern Michigan Eagles 57

Syracuse jumped out to a 17-6 lead early and pretty much led by double digits most of the game.

To beat a zone, you need to pass well, and shoot well. Syracuse did, EMU did not. Syracuse shot 58.7%, including a blistering 53.6% from three. EMU shot 34.8% and 19.2%, respectively. Syracuse had 34 assists to 11 for the Eagles.

Turnovers were roughly even, with 17 for the Orange, and 20 for EMU.

Syracuse dominated the boards, too with a 45-33 advantage.

Both teams went to their bench in the blow out, with 24 players seeing action. 8 players scored in double figures for the Orange, including all the starters. Tyus Battle, a 6’6 freshman led all scorers with 18 off the bench for the Orange.

Quaran Jones led the Eagles in scoring with 12 off the Bench. Jordan Nobles added 11, also off the bench.