12/4/2017 basketball Edit

Cold shooting continues in loss to Ball State

Kyle Charters • BoilerUpload

Staff Writer

Dormant most of the night, Purdue's offense came alive in the fourth quarter.

It was too late.

The Boilermakers' fourth-quarter rally, when they hit 11 field goals, nearly double the first 30 minutes, fell short, as they dropped a 66-60 final to Ball State Monday night in Mackey Arena.

"This is a big win for us clearly," Ball State coach Brady Sallee said. "But it's only because of the history here at Purdue."

Purdue (5-4), which had won 16 straight in the series and all but one of the 10 in Mackey Arena, fell behind by 12 at the end of the third quarter. Before then, Purdue had hit only 26.1 percent (12 of 46) of its field goals, including just three of its 19 in the first 10 minutes after halftime.

"It was just our offense," Coach Sharon Versyp said. "We didn't get organized. We didn't get into (sets). We didn't knock down outside shots, which is definitely what we need to go."

Purdue found some rhythm in the fourth, mainly by trying to attack the Cardinals' (7-0) defense and get into transition. The Boilermakers trailed by nine when BSU took a timeout at the 5:51 mark of the fourth, but rallied to within four on a couple scramble plays by Dominique Oden and Andreona Keys resulted in layups for both about three minutes later.

Twice, though, Ball State hit three-pointers to stymie Purdue momentum. The first was seconds earlier, when Carmen Grande banked one in from the deep left wing as the shot clock expired. The second came right after the back-to-back Purdue layups, when Moriah Monaco hit from deep on the right wing.

"I thought we were tough and answered the bell," Sallee said. "... We didn't get caught up in turnovers, but went back down and scored, hit our free throws. This is a big one for us."

Even with their 28 point fourth-quarter — Purdue scored only 32 in the first three quarters, including nine in the second and seven in the third — the Boilermakers shot only 33.3 percent from the field. Sophomore Lamina Cooper hit 7-of-13 for a career-high tying 16 points, but otherwise, the Boilermakers couldn't score much on the perimeter. Karissa McLaughlin was 2-of-10. Dominique Oden was 3-of-14 and Tiara Murphy was 1-of-9. Combined, Purdue was only 4-of-22 from three-point range. And considering the Boilermakers went large stretches with no one on the floor taller than 5-foot-11 — Ae'Rianna Harris was in foul trouble — the perimeter issues were a problem.

"You've got to have guards who can score the basketball," said Versyp, who pointed toward an impending change at point guard, where freshman McLaughlin has been the starter. "And they were wide open. They've got to be able to knock down the shots. We have to have a very confident person running the point right now to give everybody else confidence."

Keys had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers, while Harris chipped in 10 points, nine boards and five blocks, playing 30 foul-plagued minutes. Oden scored nine with five rebounds and five assists, but had the shooting woes.

"We put up a lot of shots and missed a lot," Keys said. "It's being confident. These are shots we take all the time, whether it's in practice or other games."

BSU, which shot 41 percent, was led by 18 points and 11 rebounds from Monaco and 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four blocks from Grande.

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