Persons' three lifts Ball State over Notre Dame
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Ball State had never come close against Notre Dame, let alone beat the Fighting Irish.
Both changed Tuesday night on Tayler Persons' left-wing three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining as the Cardinals shocked the ninthranked Fighting Irish 80-77 at Purcell Pavilion.
"I'm going to create shots for myself," Persons said after confidently dribbling down the clock against Rex Pflueger. "Just stay aggressive. I've always had the same mindset — just hit more shots."
Persons scored 24 points, Tahjai Teague added 13 and Sean Sellers had 11 as Ball State knocked off a ranked opponent for the first time since downing No. 4 UCLA 91-73 more than 16 years ago.
Notre Dame (7-2) lost a nonconference home game for the first time since falling to North Dakota State four years ago.
The Cardinals (5-4) led by a high of 67-58 with 6:45 to go, but the Irish charged all the way back to a 77-77 tie on Matt Farrell's three-pointer with 20 seconds to go.
Persons then hit his three-pointer off the dribble for the victory.
Ball State had lost each of nine previous meetings to its in-state rival, the most recent being almost 32 years ago by a 119-78 count. The closest the Cardinals had come against the Irish was 14 points, and Notre Dame's average margin of victory had been 29.
Miles Bridges scored 21 points to lead visiting Michigan State (8-1, 2-0) to a Big Ten victory over Rutgers (6-3, 0-2). Jaren Jackson Jr. scored all 11 of his points in the second half and had eight of the Spartans' season-high 13 blocks in helping Michigan State post its seventh straight win. Joshua Langford added 15 points.
Mikal Bridges scored 28 points to lead Villanova (9-0) over Gonzaga (7-2) in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York. Zach Norvell Jr. led Gonzaga with 22 points and Josh Perkins had 16. Landry Shamet had 21 points and eight assists, Shaquille Morris added 20 points and host Wichita State (7-1) rallied to beat scrappy South Dakota State (7-4).
Deandre Ayton had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and host Arizona (6-3) held on to beat Texas A&M (7-1).
Freshman Lonnie Walker IV scored a season-high 26 points and host Miami (8-0) surged in the second half to beat Boston University (3-4). Walker, making his first career start, shot 9 for 15, went 5 for 7 from three-point range and added seven rebounds.
Jevon Carter had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Lamont West scored 22 points and host West Virginia (8-1) beat Virginia (8-1). West hit a baseline jumper and a three-pointer 1:18 apart to break a 56-all tie and put the Mountaineers ahead to stay.
Keenan Evans scored 25 of his career-high 32 points in the second half and overtime, and host Texas Tech (7-1) rallied from 11 points down in the second half to beat Nevada (8-1).
Jaylon Hall scored 17 points to lead host Wright State (5-4) over Division II Ohio Valley (2-5). Loudon Love, Mark Hughes and Grant Benzinger each added 16 points for Wright State, which has won five of its last six games.
Dru Smith had a career-high 25 points, seven assists and four steals to lead Evansville (7-2) past host Bowling Green (7-2).