Feb. 8, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Bruce Horan led four Butler players in double figures with 17 points and the Bulldogs shot 50-percent from three-point as Cleveland State dropped its fifth straight Horizon League game, a 78-49 decision in Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
The loss was CSU's worst defeat in conference play this year, dropping the Vikings to 8-14 overall and 4-8 in league play. Butler has now won six straight to improve to 15-8 overall and move within a half-game of first place UW-Milwaukee with an 8-3 Horizon League record.
"We had some great opportunities tonight, but couldn't knock down our shots," head coach Mike Garland said. "We didn't convert our transition opportunities very well tonight, which was something that we did pretty good on the road last week.
"It's hard to come back against a team that shoots 71-percent in the second half," Garland added. "We have to avoid digging ourselves a big hole in the first half like we did tonight."
Horan scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, making five of his eight three-point attempts. Brandon Polk, who scored 29 points in the first meeting two weeks ago, added 15 points on seven-for-eight shooting, with A.J. Graves adding 14 points and Avery Sheets 11.
Ije Nwankwo was the only Viking in double figures with 17 points, but the junior battled foul trouble for most of the night, playing just 16 minutes.
The game was decided in the opening minutes of the second half when Graves and Horan each made three-pointers as part of a 12-4 Butler run to open the second half that turned a 14-point halftime deficit into a 22-point margin.
Butler shot 60.8 percent from the field in the contest (31-51), the highest shooting effort by a CSU opponent this year. The Bulldogs were 11-of-22 from three-point, including seven-for-10 in the second half (.700) that was part of a 17-for-24 shooting effort (.708) by the BU.
CSU shot 41.3 percent from the field (19-46), but managed just four-for-16 shooting from behind the arc (.250) and seven-for-18 from the foul line (.389).
The Vikings were forced to play catch-up all night as A.J. Graves connected on back-to-back three-pointers, the second coming with 18:10 left to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.
CSU struggled offensively, scoring just five points - all by Nwankwo - in the first seven minutes as Butler built a 15-5 lead with 13:20 left.
CSU would close to within 17-13 with 10:09 left as Frashon McGee sandwiched a pair of baskets inside around a Victor Morris transition lay-up.
Butler came right back with Graves hitting his third trey of the first half and Polk scoring inside to extend the lead back to nine (22-13).
Nwankwo answered inside for CSU to bring the Vikings to within 22-15 with 8:20 left but Butler scored nine of the next 10 points, including three points each from Polk and Julian Betko, to take command of the game.
The Bulldogs would lead by as many as 16 in the first half, that coming on a three-point play by Polk with 1:41 left. Patrick Tatham would score the final basket of the half to send the Vikings to the locker room down 34-20.
The Vikings close the regular season by playing four of their next five games at home, starting with a 5:30 p.m. game on Saturday night (Feb. 11) against league-leading UW-Milwaukee.
