Another big thing on the minds of the Butler Bulldogs was their 15-point (62-47) drubbing at Xavier on November 13. They used the remainder of their regular season as a measuring stick on how they could better things as a team until the Musketeers made their trip to Indianapolis on Saturday.
Butler's four seniors (Rotnei Clarke, Chase Stigall, Emerson Kampen and Andrew Smith), along with Roosevelt Jones were in the starting lineup. Throughout the rest of the contest, head coach Brad Stevens showed that the depth of his squad will have for the month of March.
Despite their 12 losses coming into Saturday's game, Xavier was still Xavier, feisty as ever.
There were a few factors that propelled Butler to victory. Rotnei Clarke was back to his dominant scoring, but he wasn't the only offensive presence that stood out for the Bulldogs.
Xavier held their own in the first half, including trailing Butler just 26-25 at the break. Five ties and four lead changes made for one heck of a 20 minutes of Atlantic 10 conference basketball.
Tied at 10-10, Butler went on a run that was matched by Xavier. Led by three consecutive buckets by Kameron Woods, Kellen Dunham and Erik Fromm both made a three for a 20-12 lead, but only briefly. The Musketeers showed that they can run with the Dawgs. After Fromm's trey for an eight-point lead, Semaj Christon sank a three, then Lawrence North grad and Indianapolis native Justin Martin made two consecutive field goals for a 20-20 tie.
It didn't take long for Xavier to pull back out in front. A Dee Davis three tied things up for a sixth time, 28 all. But, Rotnei Clarke took it upon himself to put his teammates on his back and lead them to a victory.
Clarke nailed a few treys to ignite the Butler offense and he was joined by sophomore forward Kameron Woods in the attack.
A Woods dunk with 10:46 left, gave Butler its biggest lead at 47-37. Xavier just wouldn't go away. Semaj Christon, Isaiah Philmore and Erik Stenger helped the Musketeers during an 8-0 run that brought Xavier's deficit to 47-45 on two Christon free throws.
Christon scored four more for a 52-49 edge. Woods tipped in a basket and Clarke swished a pair from the charity stripe to tied the score at 54. Four more by Butler's gutsy senior and the Bulldogs were back on top. But, two more ties would be what BU needed to make a final push.
Butler found itself in a good position. Tied at 60-60 on an Isaiah Philmore layup, Xavier was forced to foul the Bulldogs.
Dunham, Clarke, Smith and Woods combined on 7-of-8 free throws in the final 43 seconds to put the finishing touches on a 67-62 Senior Night victory over the Xavier Musketeers.
Xavier was led by Semaj Christon with a team-high 20 points on 6-12 shooting and 7-8 FTs. Isaiah Philmore put up a double-double with 16 points (7-12 FGs) and 11 rebounds.
After just four 1st half points, Rotnei Clarke dominated the second half with 17 to finish with a game-high 21 points on 5-14 field goals and 8-8 at the free throw line. Kameron Woods continued his offensive wakeup call to come off the bench with 15 points, five boards and also blocked a few shots in 21 minutes. Woods also scored 17 at UMass Thursday. Dunham had eight off the bench and Andrew Smith scored seven for victorious Butler.
The Atlantic 10 tournament starts on Thursday and both the Butler Bulldogs and Xavier Musketeers will be in action at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Xavier (17-13, 9-8 A10) will be the 7-seed and face 10-seed Saint Joseph's (17-12, 8-8 A10) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. With a win, they would match up with 2-seeded VCU (24-7, 12-4 A10) Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Butler (24-7, 11-5 A10) enters the A10 Tourney as the 5-seed and will play 12-seeded Dayton (17-13, 7-9 A10) at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14. With a win over the Flyers, the Bulldogs will meet up with 4-seed LaSalle (21-8, 11-5 A10) at 2:30 Friday.
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