The Butler men finished the first semester by beating a talent-laden Sunrise Christian Acadamy Prep team 84-73 at the Power Plant on Saturday afternoon.

Sunrise scored the first bucket of the game but the Grizzlies never trailed after that. The Grizzlies grew the lead on 10 points on two different occasions in the first half – the first after a 3-pointer by Larry Fitzgerald with 3:45 to go in the first half and again when Stephon Burton made a bucket with 10 seconds left in the half. Butler was up 45-35 at the break.

The margin stayed around 10 points for the opening minutes of the second half. Butler's lead finally ballooned on an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Lamar Wofford-Humphrey and was capped by a layup by Sean Goodwin with 11:31 to go in the game that put the Grizzlies ahead 62-44.

Sunrise would chip away at the Grizzly lead and used a 10-4 run late in the game. After a pair of free throws by Marvin Clark, Butler's lead was down to just six points at 77-71 with 2:25 left to play.

Butler would make six consecutive free throws in the closing minutes to finally close out the contest.

Sean Goodwin would lead Butler with 18 points, while Larry Fitzgerald had 14. Bakari Triggs scored 13 while Ernest Burton and Lamar Wofford-Humphrey had 10 apiece. Marvin Clark had 23 points for Sunrise to lead all scorers.

The win puts Butler at 11-3 with the three-week holiday break upcoming. This is the second straight year with double digits in wins before the break, as the Grizzlies were 12-2 at this point in the season a year ago.

Butler will return to action with a pair of games in Liberal as a part of the two-day Seward County Classic, beginning Friday, Jan. 3. The Grizzlies will play On Point Academy on Friday, then face Murray State (Okla.) on Saturday. Both games will start at 4 p.m.