2013 IHSAA Boys' basketball Sectional: 1st round games

103rd Annual IHSAA Boys' Basketball State Tournament

No matter which of the four classes, the 2012-13 version of the boys' basketball state tournament is wide open and that's obviously a great thing for the state of Indiana. We could very well be crowning four new state champions on Saturday, March 23 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.

There are just three undefeated teams left in the entire state of Indiana entering the state tournament. The 4A #1 ranked Munster Mustangs, while two foes, 1A #1 Rockville Rox (22-0) and 1A #2 Waldron Mohawks (20-0), have all three maintained a loss-free regular season.

Munster head coach Mike Hackett has a great thing going in northwest Indiana. He's gone 249-56 in this being his 13th season at the helm of the Mustangs. Starting this season 22-0 for the best record in the state, Hackett is truly making his mark on Munster basketball. This is his 8th season with 20-plus wins, but has just three Sectional championships and two Regional titles, bowing out in the 4A Semi-State to eventual State Runners-up Fort Wayne Snider (2009) and Kokomo (2011). 4A #2 Munster plays in the 7:00 game against East Chicago Central (10-10) Wednesday night at Gary West Side in 4A Sectional 1. With a win Wednesday, the Mustangs will meet up Hammond Morton (10-10) in the first game on Friday at 7 p.m.

Rockville's Dave Mahurin has a 162-79 mark in his 10th season with the Rox. Mahurin has won four straight Sectional and two consecutive Regional championships. His Rockville team came close to a 1A state title last year in 2011-12, losing a nail-biter, 55-52 to Loogootee. The Rox open up sectional play tonight vs. Riverton Parke (6-15) in 1A Sectional 53 at North Vermillion.

Waldron is having its best season since their 27-0 season in 2003-04 under former coach Jason Delaney. At 20-0, current coach Jeff Gorrell is 63-55 in his 6th season leading the Mohawks. Gorrell has won two Sectional titles in his short tenure. In 2007-08, was 14-9 and bowed out to South Decatur in the Regional. The 2008-09 went just 10-13, but turned the season around with a Sectional crown, but lost their lone Regional game to Bethesda Christian. The Mohawks play in the 8-team sectional at 1A Sectional 59 at Edinburgh. 1A #2 Waldron plays Indianapolis Lutheran (9-10) in the 6 p.m. game on Wednesday.

Only 7 one-loss teams left in the state...
Columbus North (21-1): The Bulldogs took their lone loss back in the 3rd week of the season on the road at 4A#3 Pike, 76-74. They really only had five other close games throughout the year. Three of those games were when Columbus North won 4 games in 4 days at the Bob Wettig Holiday Tournament in Richmond. 2A #2 Tipton (20-2) 53-45 and 4A #13 Jeffersonville (19-3) were victims on a neutral court, but Jason Speer's squad found some trouble on the road at Jennings County, winning by just 8 (64-56). Their latest close encounter was at Franklin (14-6), nipping the Grizzly Cubs just 49-48. 4A #3 Columbus North drew the second bye game on Friday night, hosting 4A Sectional 14. They will either play Shelbyville (6-14) or Columbus East (13-6), who play in the 7:30 game tonight.

Barr-Reeve (20-1): The Vikings took home three wins at the North Daviess Classic, but ran into a couple of their closest games of the year. In the semi-finals they took down another one-loss foe, Brownstown Central, with a five-point win (60-55) and host North Daviess in the title game, 44-42 in 2 OTs. Two weeks later, Barr-Reeve got their only loss of the year at home to Loogootee, 50-47. Head Coach Bryan Hughes' squad nipped White River Valley on Feb. 19, but should be in tournament form, winning at Bloomfield, 51-39, to end the regular season Friday. 1A #3 Barr-Reeve plays tonight at 7:30 vs. Washington Catholic (2-20).

Brownstown Central (20-1): Dave Benter and his Braves are riding a 14-game winning streak following their loss in the North Daviess Classic to Barr-Reeve. The remainder of the regular season has been pretty much domination by Brownstown Central. Games at Austin (65-56), at Columbus East (57-54) and a home visit from Clarksville (67-59) were tests that will see how far the Braves can journey into the 3A state tournament. Tonight at 6 p.m., 3A #4 Brownstown Central has a rematch with Silver Creek (9-11) in 3A Sectional 30 at Charlestown.

Evansville Harrison (20-1): Of the seven one-loss teams left in the state, Harrison seems to be one of the shakiest, but also could be one of the toughest. The Warriors are 9-0 vs. 4A competition and more importantly, 5-0 vs. their 4A Sectional 16 field. They've played a great amount of quality opponents that have given them fits this year. New Albany (66-62), Castle (66-64), at Bloomington South (69-64), at Evansville North (65-62) and at Jeffersonville (73-70) were games that have made Evansville Harrison a dangerous team now that it's tournament time. Their only regular season blemish came on a neutral court vs. Evansville Bosse (61-58) on January 12 and they were able to avenge that one month later on February 12 at Bosse with a  convincing 78-60 win. 4A #4 Harrison drew the first game on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the host, Evansville North (12-8).

Greensburg (19-1): Last season's undefeated quest for the Pirates ended much quicker than coach Stacy Meyer anticipated. Greensburg has won 42 of their last 43 heading into sectional play. They got their loss out of the way six weeks ago by losing at Batesville, 72-65. The Pirates beat Batesville 58-56 back on Dec. 1. Aside from splitting their season series with Batesville, Greensburg has taken most teams straight out back to the woodshed and put dominating totals on the scoreboard. One slight advantage Greensburg has is that they host 3A Sectional 29. The first Wednesday game at 6 p.m. pits 3A #2 Greensburg against South Dearborn (9-11).

Mt. Vernon (Fortville) (19-1): The Marauders might be one of the more tested teams, especially in the 3A field. Thirteen of their 20 regular season games were playing up a class against 4A schools. They put together a 12-1 mark vs. 4A foes and 6-0 against 3A opponents. Mt. Vernon's biggest win came at 4A #6 (then-#1) Hamilton Southeastern, 52-49. Noblesville posed to be a threat for the Marauders' first loss, but after being down at half to the Millers, came back for a 46-41 home win. The same happened a week later against Lawrence Central at home, but also slipped away with a 51-46 victory. New Palestine upended Mt. Vernon on the road for their first loss, 52-51. They will also host their own sectional. The 3A #1 Marauders play in the second game tonight vs. Brebeuf Jesuit (11-9) for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

Concord (19-1): The Concord Minutemen aren't flying under the radar as it might have appeared earlier in the season. Sitting at 19-1, Concord's Steve Austin has his team rolling right along these days. Just before Christmas, the Minutemen took an opportunity to show off their talents at the IPSAC/Midwest Showcase at Indianapolis Marshall, where they shutdown 3A Wapahani, 46-37. Starting off the season, Concord knocked off familiar foes Penn, Elkhart Memorial, Mishawaka (2), 3A #6 Plymouth and 2A #7 Westview. South Bend Clay gave the Minutemen their one loss on the year with at the Colonials, 72-70. Concord has to wait for their sectional opponent at Elkhart. They'll play the first semi-final game on Friday night at Elkhart's North Side Gym in 4A Sectional 4 action. The Elkhart Central (6-14) and Warsaw (10-10) winner will face the 4A #11 Minutemen on Friday at 6 p.m.

Sectional Predictions (Tuesday and Wednesday night games)



Class 4A (winners only)



 Sectional 1 at Gary West Side:
Tuesday- Lake Central
Wednesday- Munster and Gary West Side

Sectional 2 at Michigan City (The Wolves Den):
Tuesday- Valparaiso and Chesterton
Wednesday- Merrillville and Michigan City

Sectional 3 at Mishawaka (The Cave):
Tuesday- South Bend Clay and South Bend Adams

Sectional 4 at Elkhart (North Side Gym):
Tuesday- Warsaw and Goshen

Sectional 5 at Fort Wayne Carroll:
Tuesday- Fort Wayne Northrop
Wednesday- Columbia City and DeKalb

Sectional 6 at Huntington North:
Tuesday- Fort Wayne Wayne and Homestead

Sectional 7 at Lafayette Jeff (Marion Crawley Center):
Tuesday- Kokomo and McCutcheon

Sectional 8 at Carmel (Eric Clark Athletic Center):
Tuesday- Carmel
Wednesday- Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern

Sectional 9 at New Castle (Hall of Fame Gym):
Tuesday- Pendleton Heights and Anderson

Sectional 10 at Warren Central:
Tuesday- Warren Central and Indianapolis Cathedral

Sectional 11 at Decatur Central:
Tuesday- Pike
Wednesday- Ben Davis and Brownsburg

Sectional 12 at Mooresville:
Tuesday- Mooresville and Terre Haute North

Sectional 13 at Center Grove:
Tuesday- Franklin and New Palestine

Sectional 14 at Columbus North:
Tuesday- Bloomington South and Columbus East

Sectional 15 at Seymour:
Tuesday- Jeffersonville and New Albany

Sectional 16 at Evansville North:
Tuesday- Castle

Class 3A

 Sectional 17 at Hammond:

Tuesday- Hammond Clark and Griffith

 

Sectional 18 at Kankakee Valley:

Tuesday- Andrean and Calumet

 

Sectional 19 at Plymouth (Jack Edison Court):

Tuesday- South Bend St. Joe's

Thursday- Mishawaka Marian and Plymouth

 

Sectional 20 at Twin Lakes:

Tuesday- Twin Lakes

 

Sectional 21 at Wawasee (The Teepee):

Tuesday- Northwood and Tippecanoe Valley

 

Sectional 22 at Garrett:

Tuesday- Fort Wayne Concordia and Garrett

 

Sectional 23 at Norwell:

Tuesday- Norwell and Whitko

 

Sectional 24 at Muncie Central (Muncie Fieldhouse):

Tuesday- Hamilton Heights and Yorktown

 

Sectional 25 at Frankfort (The Hot Dog House):

Tuesday- Lebanon

Wednesday- Southmont and Frankfort

 

Sectional 26 at Mt. Vernon (Fortville):

Tuesday- Indianapolis Howe and Mt. Vernon (Fortville)

 

Sectional 27 at Danville:

Tuesday- Indian Creek and Tri-West

 

Sectional 28 at Greencastle:

Tuesday- Brown County and Edgewood

 

Sectional 29 at Greensburg:

Tuesday- Lawrenceburg

Wednesday- Greensburg and Batesville

 

Sectional 30 at Charlestown:

Tuesday- Brownstown Central

Wednesday- Corydon Central and North Harrison

 

Sectional 31 at Washington (The Hatchet House):

Tuesday- Heritage Hills and Vincennes Lincoln

 

Sectional 32 at Boonville:

Tuesday- Evansville Memorial and Boonville

 

Class 2A

 



Sectional 33 at Wheeler:

Tuesday- Bowman Academy and Hammond Noll

 

Sectional 34 at Winamac:

Tuesday- Winamac and Rochester

 

Sectional 35 at Westview:

Tuesday- Westview and LaVille

 

Sectional 36 at South Adams:

Tuesday- Adams Central and Eastside

 

Sectional 37 at Manchester:

Tuesday- Oak Hill

Wednesday- Northfield and Lewis Cass

 

Sectional 38 at Delphi:

Tuesday- Fountain Central and Delphi

 

Sectional 39 at Tipton:

Tuesday- Alexandria and Tipton

 

Sectional 40 at Lapel:

Tuesday- Wapahani and Frankton

 

Sectional 41 at Hagerstown:

Tuesday- Union County

Wednesday- Cambridge City Lincoln and Hagerstown

 

Sectional 42 at Indianapolis Broad Ripple:

Tuesday- Indianapolis Marshall and Park Tudor

 

Sectional 43 at Indianapolis Washington:

Tuesday- Indianapolis Metropolitan and Indianapolis Washington

 

Sectional 44 at South Putnam:

Tuesday- Cascade and Speedway

 

Sectional 45 at South Ripley:

Tuesday- Southwestern (Hanover) and Austin

 

Sectional 46 at Crawford County:

Tuesday- Crawford County and Providence

 

Sectional 47 at North Knox:

Tuesday- Sullivan

Wednesday- Linton-Stockton and Eastern Greene

 

Sectional 48 at Southridge:

Tuesday- Perry Central

Wednesday- Evansville Mater Dei and South Spencer

 



Class 1A

Sectional 49 at Kouts:

Tuesday- Washington Township

Wednesday- Gary Lighthouse and Kouts

 

Sectional 50 at West Central:

Tuesday- Pioneer and Tri-County

 

Sectional 51 at Culver:

Tuesday- Culver

Wednesday- Westville and Marquette Catholic

 

Sectional 52 at Hamilton:

Tuesday- Lakewood Park and Elkhart Christian

Wednesday- Fort Wayne Canterbury and Lakeland Christian

 

Sectional 53 at North Vermillion:

Tuesday- Rockville and Attica

 

Sectional 54 at Tri-Central:

Tuesday- Lafayette Central Catholic and Tri-Central

 

Sectional 55 at Monroe Central:

Tuesday- Liberty Christian and Southern Wells

 

Sectional 56 at Blue River:

Tuesday- Blue River and Seton Catholic

 

Sectional 57 at White River Valley:

Tuesday- Shakamak

 

Sectional 58 at University:

Tuesday- Fall Creek Academy

Wednesday- Indiana Math & Science and Indianapolis Tindley

 

Sectional 59 at Edinburgh:

Tuesday- Southwestern (Shelbyville) and Greenwood Christian

Wednesday- Waldron and Edinburgh

 

Sectional 60 at South Decatur:

Tuesday- Jac-Cen-Del and Shawe Memorial

 

Sectional 61 at West Washington:

Tuesday- Springs Valley and West Washington

 

Sectional 62 at Borden:

Tuesday- Lanesville and Borden

 

Sectional 63 at Loogootee:

Tuesday- Loogootee and Barr-Reeve

 

Sectional 64 at Wood Memorial:

Tuesday- Evansville Day

 

 

Come back to my blog for Sectional Semi-final and Championship Predictions on Friday!

Saint Louis upends #15 Butler, sweeps season series

It looked like it was going to be Butler's night to shine again on national television as they hosted one of the hottest teams in the country, Saint Louis. The Atlantic 10 conference leader and up swinging Billikens came to Indianapolis with the mindset of making a statement. That's exactly what happened as Saint Louis outlasted #15 Butler, 65-61.

Hinkle Fieldhouse's capacity-plus crowd (10,000) was rocking from the get-go and why shouldn't it have been with this highly touted rematch from a month ago, with SLU dominating their previous meeting, 75-58 in Saint Louis.

The Billikens had taken a 9-7 edge, but Rotnei Clarke got the home crowd fired up with a three-pointer for a 10-9 lead. For the next few minutes, Butler opened up and went on a 10-0 run. Clarke started the run and it was finished with seven consecutive by Kellen Dunham for a 17-9 Bulldog advantage.

Jordair Jett and Dwayne Evans helped Saint Louis chip away at Butler's lead. With the tight Billiken defense, the Dawgs were able to fend off the visitors for the rest of the first half and took a 34-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Two quick turnovers by Rotnei Clarke and poof, Butler's lead had vanished. Kwamain Mitchell made two consecutive layups to give Saint Louis a 37-36 lead that they wouldn't give up for the rest of the night.

SLU wouldn't only distance itself from Butler just nine points (53-44) with 10:57 left, plenty of time for anything to happen.

Butler had many opportunities either tie or take the lead late in the contest.

Clarke knocked down a three with 8:54 left to close the gap a little at 53-49. Andrew Smith cut the Billiken lead to 55-51 with a pass from Kameron Woods. At that time, the Butler faithful were on its feet. After Mike McCall went 1-of-2 from the free throw line, Woods stepped just inside the three-point arc to nail a jumper from 18-feet out to make it a one possession game at 56-53. Roosevelt Jones made one out of two free throws to again cut it to 56-54, Saint Louis still in front.

Dwayne Evans sank one from the charity stripe for a 57-54 edge. Jones was fouled as he made a layup, but failed to convert the old-fashioned three-point play, but BU was down just 57-56 with 5:26 on the clock.

A couple minutes later, Jones made two pressured free throws and Butler was still down 59-58.

Following a :30 timeout called by Butler, Roosevelt Jones got away with what could have argueably been a five second call during the inbound pass. Nonetheless, he got the inbound pass to Woods. Missing two from the foul line, Woods had the opportunity to tie the game and give Butler the lead. Instead, back on the other end, Jones committed his 4th personal foul, which resulted in Kwamain Mitchell swishing two free throws for a 61-58 SLU lead.

Three turnovers by Rotnei Clarke in the last couple minutes didn't help matters. The latter was with 0:13 left and Clarke lost control of the ball, but that was after Mike McCall had iced the win for the Billikens with a pair of free throws, pulling off a huge road win at #15 Butler, 65-61.

If you look at the final box score, the shooting numbers make it look like Butler won this game. Going inside the numbers really tells you that Saint Louis controlled the 2nd half to win this ball game.

SLU dominated the points in the paint 38-18, had a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers and most importantly, forced Butler into 14 turnovers, compared to only 4 in 40 minutes by the Billikens.

Saint Louis (21-5, 10-2 A-10) were led in scoring by Mike McCall with a game-high 18 points on 5-10 from the floor. Dwayne Evans was 7-for-13 for his 17 points and Kwamain Mitchell chipped in with 12 points on five field goals.

The #15 Butler Bulldogs (22-6, 9-4 A-10) were paced by freshman Kellen Dunham with 14 points, but those were all in the first half. Rotnei Clarke and Roosevelt Jones each netted 13 points. BU shot just 58% (15-26) from the free throw line, but out-rebounded the Billikens 39-29, but it was an uphill battle in the second half, only converting 9-of-25 field goals.

The win puts Saint Louis all alone atop the Atlantic 10 conference with a 10-2 record, while VCU is 9-3 and Butler in third now at 9-4.

The Bulldogs get a week off before heading east to meet up with VCU (21-6, 9-3 A-10) on Saturday, March 2 for a noon tipoff on ESPN.   

Clarke and Marshall help #15 Butler dominate Duquesne

Behind stellar guard play and great frontcourt play to match it, #15 Butler cruised to a nice 19-point, 68-49 home victory over Duquesne on Tuesday, February 19 in Indianapolis.

Alex Barlow's three, along with a layup by Khyle Marshall and Andrew Smith free throw and Butler was up 6-0 just like that. 

The Bulldogs put this Atlantic 10 game to bed quicker than the visiting Dukes thought. Surprisingly, Duquesne is one of the better three-point shooting squads in the A-10 and Butler's defense held them to just 5-of-21 (24%) from outside the arc. A combination of four different Dawgs lit up the nets from three for a 10-for-21 (47%) performance as a team. Clarke (4), Dunham (3), Barlow (2) and Smith were pretty dialed in from long range, which kept the lead growing more and more for Butler.

Butler shot made 7 of its 14 three-point attempts in the first half to build a 36-22 cushion after 20 minutes.

Junior Khyle Marshall took over in the second half, dropping down 10 of his 14 points in the final twenty. Another staggering stat is that Butler is 14-0 when Marshall scores 10 or more points in a game. It should be interesting to see what kind of role he'll play as the regular season wraps up and the A-10 and NCAA Tournaments start.

 The scoring trio of Marshall, Dunham and guard Rotnei Clarke were enough to take Duquesne right out of their game plan. The three got together to shoot 15-of-28, including 7-13 from three by Clarke and Dunham, to make up for 41 of Butler's 68.

Spreading out the offense. That's one thing that Butler does best and it doesn't seem to matter who does the scoring, as long as it gets done.

Defensively, Butler was a completely different team than the one that narrowly escaped (68-63) the Bronx, New York last Saturday at Fordham. The Bulldogs were all over the Dukes keeping Duquesne to just 37% overall shooting (19-51).

Out-rebounding Duquesne 36-28, Andrew Smith (10), Roosevelt Jones (8), Alex Barlow (7) and Kameron Woods (4) as quartet grabbed more rebounds than the Dukes.

Just 4:28 into the second half, Marshall connected on a layup and free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play to give Butler a 45-25 lead. The Bulldogs kept at that much of a distance and beat Duquesne going away, 68-49.

Duquesne was only able to get one player into double-figures with Derrick Colter scoring a team-high 11 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting. Jerry and Jeremiah Jones each had 9 for the Dukes.

Clarke led Butler with a game-high 16 points on 5-11 shooting, including 4-of-8 on his three's, while Marshall had 14 on 6-9 field goals. Off the Bulldogs' bench, freshman Kellen Dunham scored 11 on 3-for-5 from beyond-the-arc. Andrew Smith scored 8 to go with his 10 points. Rose Jones spread the wealth with six points, 8 boards and five assists and Alex Barlow drilled a couple three's for six points, seven rebounds and a few assists to his credit.

Butler's dominating performance against Duquesne was just a preview of what the Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd hopes to see for Friday night's crucial Atlantic 10 conference showdown against the A-10 leading Saint Louis (20-5, 9-2 A10). SLU put together a dominating performance at home on Tuesday, February 19 by knocking off #24 VCU, 76-62.

The Bulldogs (22-5, 9-3 A10) get the chance to redeem their January loss at Saint Louis (75-58) during Friday night's nationally televised game against the Billikens. ESPNU has the tv coverage for the 7 p.m. tipoff and Hinkle. Butler Bulldog basketball can be heard Friday night in Indianapolis on 93.1-FM WIBC, with the pre-game show starting at 6:30.

#25 Irish overcome shooting woes, wins at #20 Pitt

After starting out the first 13 minutes shooting just 1-for-19, it's hard to believe that the #25 Fighting Irish climbed their way out of that hole and fought their way back to defeat #20 Pittsburgh, 51-42.

Thanks in huge part to Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant for igniting the Notre Dame offense late in the first half and the rest of the way to fuel the Irish to their 21st victory of the 2012-13 season.

With the stellar backcourt of Jerian Grant, Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton, someone had to get the hot hand and help dig the Irish out. It started out with two consecutive 3's by Connaughton and with 5:31 left in the half, Pittsburgh's 19-3 lead had shrunk to 19-9 on just two shots.

Grant and Atkins each knocked down two free throws and Pitt was up just 19-13 with 4:13 in the half. Dante Taylor upped the Panther lead to 21-13. Jack Cooley (4) and Zach Auguste (2) combined for six to cut the Pitt advantage to two before Taylor sank a free throw. The Irish had a couple opportunities in the final moments, but Connaughton's three attempt with :39 left was off the mark and Pitt led 22-19 at half.

Notre Dame hadn't led since a slight 1-0, but things were about to change. The Irish jumped back ahead 29-28 on a Jerian Grant trey with 14:44 left. Cooley added two more for a 31-28 lead, but that wouldn't last long.

Pitt went on a 4-0 run to retake the lead 32-31, sparked by two straight layups by Cameron Wright and James Robinson.

With 10:53 on the clock, Atkins drove to the basket for a layup to put ND up 33-32 and that was for good. From that point on, Notre Dame held Pitt in-check 18-10 down the final stretch to steal a huge Big East road win at the Peterson Events Center, 51-42.

After their terrible shooting start (1-19), #25 Notre Dame finished the first half on 5-of-8 shooting and then topped it off with 60% (12-20) in the second half to take down the host #20 Pittsburgh Panthers.

#20 Pittsburgh (20-7, 8-6 BE) was led in scoring by Tray Woodall with just 11 points and Steven Adams chipped in with 8.

Cooley and Grant were the two that paced the #25 Irish (21-6, 9-5 BE) with 13 points each. Eric Atkins had 10 points and 7 assists to anchor Notre Dame's underrated backcourt in this Big East road victory.

Notre Dame heads home with plenty of time to prepare for a Sunday visit from the Cincinnati Bearcats (19-7, 7-6 BE). Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion. It'll be a nationally televised game on CBS.

#11 Butler fends off feisty Fordham

#11 Butler hit the road in Atlantic 10 conference play on Saturday, February 16 to the Bronx in New York City to take on a struggling Fordham Ram squad and was barely able to escape a packed (3,200) Rose Hill Gym with a slim 68-63 win.

Andrew Smith found himself back in the starting lineup after missing Wednesday's game at home against Charlotte, a loss (71-67) that Butler would love to have back. Smith was unable to play against the 49ers and wasn't about to miss another game.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first four minutes of action. After that, the host Rams woke up and thanks in big part to Christ Gaston and Ryan Rhoomes, fought back to defend their home court with 13-2 run to take a 13-9 lead with 10:47 remaining in the first half.

A Rotnei Clarke three and a Kameron Woods dunk, BU retained the lead slightly (14-13), but Fordham was bound and determined to be a thorn in Butler's side for a solid 40 minutes.

The Rams took another lead at 22-17 from a 9-6 stretch. But, with two three-pointers by Clarke and Kellen Dunham, respectively, Butler got back in front 23-22 with 3:38 until halftime.

Clarke netted five more to his total before intermission, giving Butler a 30-26 advantage at the break.

Fordham sure wasn't playing like a team that had only six overall wins and just two A-10 victories. At this point in the season, the Rams have the mindset that they are the spoiler and that's exactly the role they showed Butler on Saturday.

On a mission, Fordham busted out of the locker room after halftime ready to play. The Ram faithful got to their feet during a 9-0 blanking of the Bulldogs to start the second half to take a 35-30 lead.

Butler had seen enough and after a brief timeout, took command of the game. An 18-4 run that was sparked by Roosevelt Jones scoring eight during that span, the Bulldogs were now out in front with a little comfort at 48-39.

The lead grew to ten (51-41) with just over nine minutes left. BU's lead stayed under ten the rest of the way. The Rams cut their deficit to trailing by just one possession three times in the final minute at 64-61, 65-63 and 66-63 before finally bowing out to the relentless #11 Butler Bulldogs, 68-63.

Despite already eclipsing the 20-loss plateau, Fordham had a decent 6-6 home record before this loss to #11 Butler.

The Fordham Rams (6-20, 2-9 A10) were led in scoring by Chris Gaston with a team-high 21 points and six rebounds on 9-of-17 field goals. Mandell Thomas (12) and Travion Leonard (10) also reached double-figures.

The victorious Butler Bulldogs were anchored in the scoring column by Rotnei Clarke, who had 22 points, along with six boards and four assists, while going 6-of-16 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Roosevelt Jones had another solid game with 13 points and eight rebounds and Andrew Smith made a nice return to the starting lineup after a one-game absense, scoring 12 points on three field goals and knocking down a stellar 6-for-6 at the charity stripe. Kameron Woods also chipped in with 10 rebounds with his seven points and Kellen Dunham notched nine, both with significant minutes off the Bulldog bench.

#11 Butler (21-5, 8-3 A10) heads home on Tuesday, February 19 to host the Duquesne Dukes (8-17, 1-10 A10), who are currently sitting at last in the Atlantic 10 conference standings. Butler is in 3rd, right behind leader VCU (21-5, 9-2 A10) and Saint Louis (19-5, 8-2 A10), who comes to Indianapolis on Friday.
Tuesday's battle with Duquesne tips off at 7 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The game can be seen locally on My-INDY-TV 23 and can also be heard on the home of Butler basketball, 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis.

Charlotte ends #11 Butler's 12-game home streak

The Charlotte 49ers knew there would be a soft spot in the #11 Butler Bulldog defense and they went after that and didn't stop all night long. Butler center Andrew Smith was sitting out the first of a two-game stint with an abdominal injury that he suffered Saturday at George Washington. Butler came up on the short end on Wednesday, February 13 to Charlotte without Smith, 71-67.

This four-point loss to the 49ers snapped Butler's 12-game home court winning streak at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Some are calling it a bad loss, but in all reality, it's going to be one of those games that helps Butler throughout the remainder of the season. Charlotte improved itself to 18-6 overall and 6-4 in Atlantic 10 play with the big road win over Butler.

The 49ers shot without hesitation and shot the basketball well all night long, going 26-48 from the floor for 54%, while also outrebounding Butler 34-32.

The only thing that kept Butler in the contest was the fact that they shot decent (10-29) from three-point range, but they otherwise shot poor (39%), making just 23 of their 59 field goal attempts.

With Smith missing from the lineup, somehow his teammates would have to make up his 11.4 points per game and 5.4 rebounds and that did not happen against Charlotte. Roosevelt Jones did his part by knocking down 17 points and 9 boards on 7-of-13 shooting, but was just 3-for-6 at the charity stripe.
Erik Fromm came down with a season-high 13, while also corralling nine rebounds, nailing three treys in just 24 minutes of action in starting in Smith's place.

Butler only trailed 29-27 at halftime, but there was obviously plenty of time for Charlotte to work the magic that they performed and for Butler to possible make a comeback on their home floor if needed.
Charlotte held a slight edge for most of the second half until they widened the gap for a 10-point lead (59-49) with 4:26 left on a Pierria Henry jumper.

Rotnei Clarke decided it was time that he bring the Bulldogs back into this ballgame and quickly. In the final four minutes, Clarke poured in 15 of his game-high 18 points to get Butler back within a one-point deficit (68-67). The 6'0 senior put all that he could into that run to spark Butler's comeback, but it wasn't enough, as the 49ers still had plenty in their tank to hold on for a four-point win, 71-67.
"I knew Charlotte coming in was going to be really hard for us to match up with, in large part because their strengths are certainly something that we counter better with Andrew (Smith) than without him," said Butler head coach Brad Stevens.

Stevens was right. Butler had no answers on defense for what Charlotte brought at them, especially when it came to post play, where they're normally used to Andrew Smith scooping up rebounds, steals and second-chance points in the paint.

The visiting 49ers (18-6, 6-4 A-10) were led in scoring by Pierria Henry with a team-high 17 points on 6-12 shooting. Willie Clayton and Chris Braswell each netted 11 points and Darion Clark added 10. With those four reaching double-figures, they combined to shoot 19-33 as a quartet for 57%.
Butler (20-5, 7-3 A-10) was led by leading scorer Rotnei Clarke and his game-high 18 points, going 5-of-13 from three-point land, four of those in the final minutes. Roosevelt Jones finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out in the closing seconds. Erik Fromm, who has been playing some inspired basketball since the recent passing of his father from cancer, scored a season-high 13, also grabbed nine rebounds and drilled 3-of-6 of his 3's. Kellen Dunham started in place of Alex Barlow and had a 12-point night, making 2 of his 5 three's and going 4-for-4 from the foul line.

The Butler Bulldogs head to New York City and will face the Fordham Rams (6-19, 2-8 A-10) in Manhattan on Saturday, February 16 for a 4 p.m. tip. The Atlantic 10 matchup can be seen on CBS College Sports Network and can be heard locally on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis, with Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play) and Nick Gardner (color analyst) on the radio call.

Andrew Smith injured, will miss two games

It's probably better now than later for Andrew Smith, and for Butler as a whole for that matter. Butler's center will be on the bench wearing street clothes during this week's Atlantic 10 conference games against Charlotte on Wednesday and at Fordham on Saturday.

As rough as Saturday's tough road win (59-56) was over George Washington, it was worse for Smith. The 6'11 senior center left the A-10 game at GW on Saturday when he took a shot to the abdomen when going for a loose ball. Smith is second in points (11.4 ppg) and rebounds (5.4 rpg) for the #10 Butler Bulldogs.

Starters Roosevelt Jones and Khyle Marshall will be counted on for scoring and rebounding, along with guys like Kameron Woods and Erik Fromm off Butler's bench.

Smith's presence will definitely be missed on the court, but Butler survived two and a half games without Rotnei Clarke when he was injured, including a thrilling victory over then-number 8 Gonzaga. His leadership will be utilized on the Bulldog bench, as he's also started 91 of the last 93 games for Butler and his experience goes back to playing the in the 2011 Final Four games vs. VCU and UConn. Smith has also played in back-to-back National Championship games in 2010 and 2011 versus Duke and Connecticut, respectively.

Head Coach Brad Stevens hopes to have Smith back in the lineup next Tuesday, February 19 at home against Duquesne.

The Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2) host Charlotte (17-6, 5-4) tonight at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for a 7 p.m. tip.

#25 Notre Dame bests #11 Louisville, 104-101 in 5 OTs

As if there wasn't enough excitement at the University of Notre Dame this week with ESPN's College Gameday coming to South Bend on Saturday, the Cardinals and Irish figured they would give the sellout crowd (9.149) at The Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion their money's worth and much more! #11 Louisville and #25 Notre Dame put together quite the battle. Tying the game 16 times and their were 26 lead changes, it was the Irish in the 5th overtime who were able to outlast the Cardinals with a 104-101 win.

Notre Dame and Louisville have a pretty good history of taking their games to overtime when they meet up. Five of the last six and 8 of the last 13 in this series have been taken to extra periods.

It was a slow-go in the first few minutes, suprisingly, with the two Big East stalwarts combining for just 3-of-12 from the floor and Louisville with a slight 4-2 edge just four and a half minutes in.

Notre Dame held just a 27-24 halftime lead. It looked all too obvious that this would be a defensive basketball game that would end up a low scoring affair, despite the hyped up atmosphere.

Down 56-48 when Tom Knight committed his 5th personal foul, it was hard telling what would happen next. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant took things into his own hands. In the final 0:45 of regulation, Grant drilled three 3-pointers and with 16 seconds left, made a layup and converted the free throw to finish off a 12-4 run, knotting the score at 60-60.

Louisville had the slight edge in the second half, outscoring the Irish 36-33, tying the game at 60-60 after two halves of play.

Playing five overtimes almost makes one forget what happened in the 40 minutes of regulation.

Jack Cooley's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds seems like it was an after thought, considering that he fouled with 6:54 left in regulation. The Irish's other big presence down low, Tom Knight, fouled out with 0:51 seconds left in the second half. That meant they'd be left with limited depth heading into the overtime.

This was the kind of game where Notre Dame realized what kind of depth they could and should have every game. We should start seeing more minutes off the bench from freshman Zach Auguste and senior Garrick Sherman and the season continues on. Auguste saw 36 minutes of action and had 8 points and 3 rebounds before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the 5th OT. Sherman showed up like no one thought that he would. In 22 minutes, Garrick scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed 6 rebounds. The most mind-boggling thing about Sherman's performance is that he saw no action in regulation and turned out to be such a sparkplug for the Irish during the five overtimes.

Cooley and Knight have fouled out. Who's up next off the Irish bench? Why not bring in 6'11 big man Garrick Sherman. Sherman transferred from Michigan State before last season. Starting 29 of his 71 games for the Spartans, he brings leadership.

He didn't come into the contest until 1:57 left in the first overtime, staying on the bench in anticipation for the first three minutes. From then on, he was dialed in right away and didn't stop. Sherman was forced to come off the ND bench with Jerian Grant getting charged with his 5th foul.

After the first OT, it was 68-68. The second OT, 75-75. Through three OTs, 83-83. Following OT #4, it was 93-93. The scores were 8-8 in each of the first three overtimes and 10-10 in the fourth. It just seemed obvious that one of these two would find their way to pull away slightly in the fifth overtime.

The #25 Irish outlasted the #11 Cardinals 11-8 in the fifth overtime in an exhausting game, 104-101. It was the longest regular season game in Big East regular season history. Previously, Notre Dame defeated Georgetown in four OT's 11 years ago, also coming up victorious.

#11 Louisville (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was able to get three players scoring 21-plus points. Chris Behanan led all scorers with a game-high 30 points, shooting 13-of-20 and also grabbed 15 rebounds. Luke Hancock 22 points off the bench. Russ Smith had 21 points and 10 boards. Gorgui Dieng also had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Highly touted guard Peyton Siva was limited to 2 points by the Irish defense, fouling out in the fifth overtime.

#25 Notre Dame (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was led in scoring by Jerian Grant's team-high 19, including 12 in the final 45 tics of regulation to send the game to overtime. Right behind him was Garrick Sherman, who notched 17 points in just 22 minutes of action, only playing in the five overtime periods. Pat Connaughton had an outstanding night with 16 points, 14 rebounds and also dished out 7 assists. Eric Atkins played 60 minutes, scoring 14 points. Cameron Biescheid played 50 minutes off the ND bench, putting up 14 on 4-8 field goals and 4-4 at the free throw line. Jack Cooley did it quietly, but had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Auguste gave Mike Brey 36 great minutes off the Irish bench, scoring 8 before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the OT #5.

ND shot 42% overall (32-77) and 7-25 from three. Only shooting decent from the charity stripe, the Irish were 33-49 (67%). Louisville was 33-81 (41%) from the floor and 5-25 from the three-point arc, while going 30-48 (63%) from the free throw line. The two tied at 54-54 in rebounds. ND turned the ball over 18 times to 14 for U of L.

#25 Notre Dame stays home on Wednesday, February 13 for a 7 p.m. tipoff against the DePaul Blue Demons (10-13, 1-9 Big East). #11 Louisville also gets to play at home, but on Thursday, February 14, as the St. John's Red Storm (15-9, 7-5 Big East) visits the Cardinals.

It was an unbelievable game for the ages that we'll be talking about for years to come. Only time will tell, but it's just a precursor to what we're going to see down the stretch of the season and on into March, where it all comes down to March Madness!

.No. 14 Butler blows lead, but holds off George Washington

In a conference like the Atlantic 10, a team should never take any size of a lead for granted. Sometimes, a 17-point lead isn't safe to sit back and relax on, when there's still 12 minutes left. That's exactly what happened to #14 Butler on Saturday afternoon at the soldout Charles E. Smith Center (4.488) in Washington, D.C. The Bulldogs were able to hold off the Colonials' late comeback and escape our nation's capitol with a 59-56 conference road victory.

Rotnei Clarke nailed a three to put Butler up 12-10 with 13:50 left in the first half and the Bulldogs were cruising and feeling good for the time being. Their lead swelled to 11 at one point (25-14) before holding onto a 31-22 halftime advantage.

Butler kept a double-digit for a majority of the second half, including their largest lead (48-31) with 12:02 left in the ball game.

With 6:01 on the clock, George Washington had cut the deficit to ten points at 53-43 and had comeback in mind. Starting with two Isaiah Armwood free throws helped bring it under ten (56-48) with 2:47 left.

Roosevelt Jones shoots pretty poor (59%) from the free throw line on the season and he continued that against GW. Jones was just 2-of-9 from the foul line and Butler shot just 62% (13-21) as a team, which didn't help their cause. Jones couldn't convert at the line when it mattered with 1:19 left and Lasan Kromah dropped in a layup, leaving the Colonials down just 57-54 and 52 ticks left.

Joe McDonald had scored five of the next seven points for the Colonials, including a pair of free throws that brought things back to Butler leading by just one (57-56) with 0:44 remaining.

After being fouled by Kromah, freshman Kellen Dunham sank two from the charity stripe to put Butler up by three, 59-56. George Washington had opportunities in the final 23 seconds, but two three-point attempts came up off the mark and BU escaped with a narrow three point win.

George Washington (11-11, 5-4 A-10) was able to get three into double-figures with Isaiah Armwood leading the Colonials and sharing game-high honors with 14 points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double. Joe McDonald and Lasan Kromah both had 10.

The Butler Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2 A-10) also had a 14 point scorer in Rotnei Clarke. He also filled out the rest of his line of the stat sheet with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Despite his sub par free throw shooting, Roosevelt Jones wound up with 12 and seven boards, while Kellen Dunham knocked down 10 points off the bench.

Butler notched its 20th victory of the season at GW on Saturday, joining 15 others with 20 wins thus far in 2012-13. Those include two teams, #1 Indiana (20-3) and #6 Gonzaga (23-2), that the Bulldogs have victories against. Saturday's big win at George Washington puts BU atop the Atlantic 10 standings, but sharing conference records with VCU and Saint Louis, all with 7-2 league totals.

The Dawgs head home to play the Charlotte 49ers (17-6, 5-4 A-10) on Wednesday, February 13 for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game can be seen on local television in the Indianapolis area on My-INDY-TV channel 23 and heard on the radio on Country 97.1 Hank-FM.

#14 Butler blasts Bonnies in second half

St. Bonaventure proved why the Atlantic 10 could get as many as 6 or 7 bids to the NCAA Tournament in March. The Bonnies will likely end up not being in that group that makes the "Big Dance," but as was seen Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, they won't go away quietly. Butler used some surges and great shooting to keep St. Bonaventure at a distance, running away eventually with a 77-58 win.

For the #14 Butler, it took seasoned veterans to guide the Bulldogs in the right direction and to another A-10 victory, moving them to 12-0 at home this season.

As per usual, it was Rotnei Clarke leading Butler in scoring with 17 points, but he also had handfuls of rebounds and assists both, while shooting 6-12 overall and 3-8 from outside-the-arc.

It was St. Bonaventure's first time playing Butler and more importantly, their first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse. They weren't afraid at all. Taking a lead at 9-7, just four minutes in, the Bonnies wouldn't hold the lead for long. Butler retook the edge 20-13 with a 13-2 run that was aided by Chase Stigall (two 3's), Kellen Dunham (one three) and a couple baskets by Kameron Woods.

It was slim, but Butler slowly built its lead back up to nine at halftime, 39-30.

Not even a minute into the second, Khyle Marshall ignited the crowd at Hinkle with a slam dunk, giving Butler its first double-digit margin of the night at 41-30.

Jordan Gathers scored two to get the Bonnie deficit under 10 (41-32), but that wouldn't last long, as
Butler would keep it above ten the rest of the way. The Bulldogs pulled away, turning this into a route over St. Bonaventure, 77-58.

Demitrius Conger led all players with a game-high 18 points on 5-6 shooting and 7-8 from the free throw line. Chris Johnson and Marquise Simmons both chipped in 9 each for the Bonnies.

The loss drops St. Bonaventure to 10-11 overall and 3-5 in A-10 play. #14 Butler (19-4, 6-2), on the other hand, now sits atop a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 with VCU (18-5, 6-2) and Saint Louis (17-5, 6-2). Butler might want to think about winning out in the conference. They already own a 17-point loss at Saint Louis and won't play VCU until they visit the Rams on Saturday, March 2.

With Clarke having a team-high 17, there were plenty of others that picked up the rest of the points to spread the wealth for the Bulldogs. Andrew Smith had 13 and seven rebounds, a pair of assists and three steals. Chase Stigall seemed more than happy to contribute his 12 points, going 3-5 from three-point land, while also grabbing four boards and dishing out a couple of assists. Khyle Marshall kept accountable with 12 of his own (5-5 field goals), not to mention his thunderous one-handed dunk that was #3 on ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 plays. Kellen Dunham 9 points and Roosevelt Jones, Woods, Erik Fromm and Alex Barlow all combined for the remaining Butler scoring.

#14 Butler continues Atlantic 10 play this Saturday, February 9 as they take a trip to Washington, D.C. to face the George Washington Colonials (11-10, 5-3 A-10). The game is set for a 2 p.m. tipoff in our nation's capitol and can be seen nationally on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago.

#25 Notre Dame outmaned by #9 Syracuse

After losing two Big East road games in a row to Villanova (75-71, OT) and Pittsburgh (65-55), #9 Syracuse wasn't about to drop a third consecutive. #25 Notre Dame was hoping to head to the Carrier Dome and keep the Orange's streak going, but it was a tough task. Jim Boeheim's squad was up to the Irish's challenge and showed no mercy in a 63-47 domination.

This game became a battle of the Grants. Jerian is a 6'5 junior starting guard for Notre Dame and his younger brother Jerami is a 6'8 freshman forward for Syracuse. The two didn't really guard each other much because they play two different positions on the floor. Jerian would end with 15 points and 5 assists (36 minutes) for the Irish, while Jerami had 14 points and 6 rebounds and played all 40 minutes for the Orange.

Syracuse started out on a mission and it became obvious that they weren't going to stop. The 'Cuse jetted out to a 10-0 lead and Notre Dame was forced to regroup and call a :30 timeout with 15:40 left in the first half. They still hadn't put points on the board 31 seconds later when the media timeout paused the action. It took until a minute later (14:09) until the Irish finally got themselves on the scoreboard with an Eric Atkins three. Atkins' trey ignited ND and they were off on an 11-0 run to take an 11-10 edge over the Orange.

The game was tied up a couple more times at 11 and 13 before Trevor Cooney knocked down a three of his own for a 16-13 lead that Syracuse wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game to the Irish.

The Orange were just too lengthy and outright big compared to the big men down low for Notre Dame. Jack Cooley, Tom Knight and Pat Connaughton were forced to play even bigger than they normally do. Cooley (11), Knight (3) and Atkins (5) combined for 19 of the Irish's 28 rebounds as a team, but that was nothing compared to Syracuse's starting five that grabbed 32 boards between them.

Syracuse would extend its lead in the second half, but the 16-point final score was the second time that the Orange would lead by as much. Notre Dame kept within striking distance, but something always happened that kept them from coming all the way back. It wasn't until two C.J. Fair free throws with 6:47 left that gave the Orange a ten-point lead again (45-35) that kept Notre Dame's deficit above 10 and out of reach. Syracuse held on for a dominating 63-47 Big East win over the visiting Irish.

The Irish are figuring out that they need to use what's left of their bench in the absence of Scott Martin. They're going to have to get more playing time out of Garrick Sherman, along with freshmen Zach Auguste and Austin Burgett. It's a lot to replace the scoring (7.9 ppg.) and three-point shooting (46%) of Martin, but he also averaged 6 rebounds per game.

#25 Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4 Big East) has a tough matchup on Saturday as they'll host #11 Louisville (18-4, 6-3 Big East) on national television. ESPN's College Gameday will be in South Bend for the day, with tipoff at 9 p.m.

#9 Butler staves off Rhode Island late

The #9 Butler Bulldogs got a balanced effort offensively on Saturday, as they held off a pesky Rhode Island squad that had upset in mind, almost getting their way, losing to Butler 75-68.

Heading into Saturday, February 2nd's matchup with fellow Atlantic 10 foe Rhode Island, it didn't look like it would be that close of a game, on paper that is. Prior to their first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Rams were just 6-13 and struggling to find their team identity in A-10 play. Rhode Island only has one signature win to its credit thus far in the 2012-13 season. Two weeks ago, the Rams got a huge road victory at Saint Louis (82-80 in OT), a team that beat these same Butler Bulldogs by 17 (75-58) on Thursday.

Butler found itself playing from behind for a majority of the first half and it wasn't the easiest of tasks to dig out of this hole they dug vs. URI. Rotnei Clarke knocked down a key three with 4:51 left in the first to tie it up at 28-28. BU's next opportunity down, Andrew Smith sank a pair of free throws to give Butler its first lead at 30-28. The Rams' Xavier Munford knotted things back up at 30-30 with two of his own free tosses. Andre Malone made a jump shot with 1:31 left before the half to give the feisty visitors a 32-30 edge after 20 minutes of play.

Roosevelt Jones nabbed Butler's first bucket of the second half to even the score again at 32-32. After that, Rotnei Clarke was fouled as he made a three-pointer. Clarke followed that with a free throw for a four-point play and a 36-32 lead, which they wouldn't give back to Rhode Island.

The Bulldogs were able to keep the Rams at a good enough distance to hold them off for the win, but their lead never got bigger than 13 points just a few times down the stretch.

URI made one more push to test the Bulldogs in the final four minutes. Down 67-56 with 4:14 on the scoreboard clock, the Rams had a 12-8 run to end the game, but it wasn't enough as #9 Butler held on for the 75-68 win, improving to 11-0 at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the season.

Rhode Island (6-14, 1-6 A-10) was led in the scoring column by Nikola Malesevic with a team-high 18, followed by both Mike Powell and Xavier Munford with 14 each. The Rams shot just 40% (20-50) and 4-11 from three (36%), but it was their free throw shooting that really kept them within striking distance throughout, sinking 24-of-28 (86%) from the charity stripe.

#9 Butler (18-4, 5-2 A-10) also shot extremely well from the free throw line, making 24-of-27 (89%), which was one of the bigger factors that helped stave off the Rams' late push.

Rotnei Clarke led all scorers with a game-high 23 points on 8-13 shooting (5-8 on 3's). Roosevelt Jones netted 18 with 6 rebounds and four assists, not to mention drilling 8-for-8 on his free throws. Khyle Marshall finally got back out of the offensive shell that he was in by scoring 13 for the Bulldogs.

BU gets to stay home and host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (10-10, 3-4 A-10), who earned a 10th victory on Saturday with a home win over Duquesne (68-60) for its third win in their last four games. The Bonnies and Bulldogs will meet up on Wednesday, February 6 at 7 p.m. and can be seen locally in Indianapolis on My-INDY-TV 23.

Saint Louis defense dominates #9 Butler

The crowd at Chafeitz Arena in St. Louis was white clad as their intent was to "white out" Butler on Thursday, January 31. The host Billikens did that and much more as they caught the #9 Bulldogs off guard with a dominating 75-58 home win.

Saint Louis had four pesky guards that became a thorn in the side of Butler senior guard Rotnei Clarke all night long. Clarke still managed to score a team-high 17 points, but was forced into committing six of Butler's 23 turnovers.

The Bulldogs started the game out just fine, leading 10-5, and before they knew it Jordair Jett had tied things up at 10-10. A Jake Barnett layup gave the Billikens a 12-10 edge that they would keep and build on for the rest of the night.

The Billikens ended the first half on a 23-13 run that was led by Jett (11) and Rob Loe (7) in that span to take a 34-23 advantage at halftime.

Things went from bad to worse in the second half for Butler. SLU jetted out to an 11-4 run in the first four minutes for a 45-27 distance, aided by Mike McCall, Jr. and Dwayne Evans combining for 10 of those 11.

From that point on, in quick fashion, Saint Louis extended their lead to double-digits and that's where it stayed the rest of the way. They shot 55% in the second half, going 16-of-29. They found every hole and crease in the Butler defense, taking the visiting Bulldogs further and further out of the game.

The lead grew to as large as 18 points before the final margin of 17 at 75-58.
Saint Louis had won 11 of 13 before this dominating win over #9 Butler. The Bulldogs had an even better stretch, winning 14 of 15 before bowing out on the road Thursday night in Saint Louis.

Butler shot just 43% (22-51 overall) and 36% (5-14) from three-point range. The Billikens were able to shoot 50 % (30-60) from the floor.

Saint Louis, on the other hand, fed off the largest crowd in Chafeitz Arena's history (10,612). Their defense was dialed in, to say the least. Four different Butler Bulldogs committed four or more turnovers (23 total), 18 coming from BU starters. Of those 23 giveaways, 14 came from Billiken steals, completely throwing Butler's overall game plan out the window.

The victorious Billikens were led in scoring off the bench by Jordair Jett, with a game-high 19 on 8-for-12 from the field. Dwayne Evans (15) and Rob Loe (12) also joined Jett in double-figures.

Rotnei Clarke was Butler's top scorer with 17 point on 5-of-12 shooting (3-7 from three) and center Andrew Smith also added 12 points.