Once again, the Butler Bulldogs (2-1) provided quite the dramatic finish. Senior guard Rotnei Clarke weaved his way up the court, found space deep on the right wing, pulled up from 25-feet and sank a one-handed three as time expired. Clarke was mobbed immediately by his teammates as Butler advanced in the Maui Invitational over Marquette (2-1), 72-71.
Butler trailed 70-69 with eight seconds left. Marquette's Junior Cadougan was at the free throw line with a chance to put the Golden Eagles up three. Cadougan made the first and missed the second, setting up the final play for Clarke.
Marquette got itself out to an 8-2 early lead only three minutes in before Butler and head coach Brad Stevens were forced to call a 30 second timeout to regroup. The Bulldogs climbed out of the hole it was in when freshman guard Kellen Dunham knocked down two free throws for a 25-23 lead. Clarke sank two himself from the charity stripe for a four point margin at 27-23. Vander Blue gave Marquette the lead again with six unanswered points to go up 29-27. Butler closed out the half, taking the lead on a pair of jumpers by Clarke and Khyle Marshall for a 31-30 advantage at intermission.
This first quarterfinal of the 2012 Maui Invitational was a game of spurts and seeing which team was going to outlast the other. Butler just didn't stop with its intense style of play and Marquette was never able to pull away like it appeared they wanted so badly to do. The Bulldogs caught a lot of breaks at got those at just the right times. A game that featured five ties and nine lead changes, the fans that made the trip to Maui were treated with a great game to open the three day invitational.
Vander Blue paced Marquette's scoring with 21 points, while Junior Cadougan had 14 and Devonte Gardner dropped in 12 and seven rebounds.
Khyle Marshall led all scorers with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Rotnei Clarke finished with 20 points and six boards, including the 25-foot game-winner. Clarke was responsible for all four of Butler's three-point field goals (4-for-14) and the rest of the team was 0-7 from three. Also in double-figures for the victorious Bulldogs was Roosevelt Jones with 12 and Andrew Smith with 10.
Butler will have its hands full on Tuesday night when they'll take on #9 North Carolina at 8 p.m. ET in Maui. North Carolina rolled over Mississippi State, 95-49.
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