Indiana 76, Ball St. 62

MUNCIE, Ind., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Bracey Wright matched his season high with 31 points Tuesday night as No. 18 Indiana, without Coach Mike Davis, used a late surge to pull away from Ball State for a 76-62 victory.

Davis served a one-game suspension from the Big Ten Conference for running onto the court in the waning seconds of last week's loss to Kentucky. He was protesting a non-call of a foul against Wright, his star freshman.

For this intra-state matchup, assistant John Treloar guided the Hoosiers, but Wright led them. He tied his season high established against Vanderbilt on Dec. 9, when he became the first Indiana freshman since A.J. Guyton to eclipse 30 points.

Despite Wright's brilliance, the Hoosiers (9-2) found themselves nursing just a 52-49 lead with less than eight minutes to play before putting together a 16-4 surge to snap a two-game slide.

Kyle Hornsby added 14 points for Indiana, which has won the last 13 meetings with Ball State and holds a 16-1 lead in the all-time series.

The Hoosiers also did a good job on Chris Williams, limiting him to 11 points. Williams came in as the Mid-American Conference's leading scorer at 23.1 points per game.

Cameron Echols scored 24 points for the Cardinals (5-5), who have lost three in a row. They hosted Indiana for the first time since 1973 and notched their lone win in the series in 1937.