MUNCIE, Ind. – Ray'Sean Taylor eclipsed the 1000-point plateau and Damarco Minor recorded his fourth double-double of the season, but it wasn't enough as the Cougars dropped an 83-71 decision on the road at Ball State Sunday.
SIUE fell to 6-5 overall and 0-5 in true road games. Ball State improved to 8-2 overall and 7-0 in home games.
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Ball State, which led throughout, never pulled away from SIUE until the final minutes. The Cardinals pushed their lead to 42-32 with 1:26 to play in the first half, but the Cougars got three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead. Taylor's three with 1:12 to play made it 42-35 and gave the third-year guard 1,002 points for his career. Taylor becomes the 18th player at SIUE and the fifth in the Division I era to go over 1,000 points. He did so in his 64th career game.
"That's a heck of an accomplishment," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "This young man continues to dig deep and put himself in a position to have success. He's a contributing factor to this team on and off the court in so many ways. We will celebrate that (achievement). To have a guy in two-and-a-half years have 1000 points isn't overly common."
Taylor finished with 12 points thanks to three three-pointers. It is the 52nd double-digit scoring effort of his career. He now has 1,009 points for his career.
Desmond Polk knocked down a three-pointer with 40 seconds left in the half and SIUE trailed 42-38 at the break.
The Cougars found themselves down eight two separate times early in the second half. A 7-2 SIUE push made it a three-point game (51-48) after a Shamar Wright layup with 13:44 left.
Mickey Pearson, Jr. and Trent Middleton, Jr. hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions to extend the Ball State advantage back out to nine at 57-48 with 11:44 left.
"They hit big three after big three, when we'd cut it to four or cut it to five," Barone said. "We had some defensive breakdowns and didn't do what we needed to late in the shot clock."
Ball State connected on 11 of 21 (52 percent) three-point attempts for the game and shot 46 percent (25-55) overall.
Basheer Jahid (27 points), Jalin Anderson (23) and Pearson (10) led the offensive attack for the Cardinals.
"Their 'big three' got to 60 points," Barone added. "We didn't do our job on those guys in particular to come out with a road win in a conference-type atmosphere.
Ball State also converted 22 of 26 (85 percent) trips to the free throw line including knocking down 5-6 in the final 50 seconds of the game.
SIUE shot 43 percent (25-58) overall and 7-19 (37 percent) from three-point territory. The Cougars were 14-21 from the foul line.
Minor's 21 points and 12 rebounds led SIUE offensively. He added three assists.
"Polo did a good job. He goes in waves, where he goes and scores it or he's whipping it around to teammates," Barone said.
Shamar Wright added 12 points. Terrance Thompson and Lamar Wright each scored eight points for SIUE.
The Cougars will take a week off and be back at First Community Arena Mon. Dec. 18 to face Central Christian.
"We'll take a few days to re-focus on some things," Barone said. "We have a lot of information on ourselves on what it is going to take for us to continue to grow and get better."
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