Despite rallying back from an 11-point deficit midway through the first half, the Butler men fell short in a 71-67 at Seward County on Saturday.
Freshman LaMont Pruitt scored a team-high 13 points for Butler and had six rebounds. Shomari Triggs added 12 points and five steals, while Trent Richardson finished with 10 points.
Seward slowly pulled away from the Grizzlies in the opening half, taking a 32-21 lead with under six minutes remaining before the break. However, Butler would storm back with a 16-4 run and went into the locker room with a 37-36 lead. The run was capped when Richardson hit a 4-foot shot off a missed shot just before the buzzer.
The second half featured four ties and three lead changes. Pruitt scored Butler's first six points of the half as the Grizzlies held a 43-39 edge. Seward would take their first lead of the second half - 47-45 with 11:43 remaining. Butler quickly regained the lead, 51-50, on a Pruitt basket just under two minutes later.
Butler's largest lead of the game, 56-50, came at the 7:14 mark when Sean Goodwin netted a field goal. The Grizzlies maintained a six-point edge, 63-57, on an Eric Watson layup off a Shomari Triggs steal with 4:30 to play.
Seward would rally with a 7-0 run to take a 64-63 lead with 2:34 left. Butler would manage just one field goal the rest of the contest. Trailing 68-66 with 4.9 seconds remaining, Shomari Triggs hit 1-of-2 free throws to pull within one. An immediate foul put Seward at the foul line for two shots with 2.2 seconds remaining. After hitting the first free throw, a second miss resulted in a Seward putback for a basket, putting the game out of reach for the Grizzlies.
Butler (16-5 overall, 4-3 Jayhawk West) currently sits in fourth place in the West standings. The Grizzlies will finish up the first half of conference schedule with a home meeting against Dodge City (11-10, 3-4) on Wednesday. Tipoff for the game is at 7:30 p.m.