SMU jumped out to a 24-1 lead as it rolled to a 90-65 win over Ball State on Friday in Dallas, led by Oziyah Sellers’ 21 points.
The rest of the starting five joined Sellers in double figures for the Mustangs (4-0). David Terrell Jr. scored 16 while Jermaine O’Neal Jr. and Jaden Toombs added 13 and 11, respectively. Jakub Szumert amassed 10 points and nine rebounds.
Sean Blake and Trey Lewis paced the Cardinals (1-3) with 19 points apiece, but they combined to make just 10 of 30 field-goal attempts.
SMU outshot Ball State 43.4% to 31.7% while winning the rebounding battle 44-32. The Mustangs cleaned up a major point of emphasis, committing only eight turnovers after averaging an Atlantic Coast Conference-worst 17 per game entering Friday.
Ball State put up a fight after facing down a 34-point halftime deficit, making 8 of 16 3-point attempts in the second half. Thanks to the hot shooting, the Cardinals outscored the Mustangs 48-39 over the final 20 minutes.
An SMU lead that grew as large as 38 was trimmed to 73-55 with 6:43 left after a 15-0 Ball State run.
However, the Cardinals didn’t make another field goal for the rest of the game as their comeback attempt fizzled out.
Ball State was in trouble after missing its first 13 shots from the floor. Blake ended the drought with a layup with 11:11 remaining in the first half, but the damage had been done at that point as the Cardinals trailed 24-3.
The Mustangs came out sharp on offense, making 17 of 29 shots from the floor (58.6%) and shooting 6 of 10 on 3-point attempts in the half. Sellers almost outscored Ball State personally, as he had 14 first-half points and SMU led 51-17 at the break.
Rowan Brumbaugh did not play for the Mustangs due to a reported abdominal strain. The Tulane transfer guard started SMU’s first three games, averaging 7.7 points per contest.
–Field Level Media
