Butler men improve to 7-0 with win over Allen

The Butler men are off to their best start since the 2008-09 season after defeating Allen 89-72 on Tuesday to move to 7-0 on the season.

Kyle Steward led the Grizzlies with 20 points and hitting 9-of-16 from the field, while Lamar Wofford added 16 points (7-of-10 shooting) and 13 rebounds in the win.

Butler opened the game with a 7-0 run, but Allen stormed back to take the lead with a 10-2 run. The Grizzlies would then put together a 17-2 run midway through the first half en route to a 20-point halftime lead.

Trailing 12-11 with 13:39 left in the opening half, Wofford made a layup to give the lead back to the Grizzlies. Later in the run, Butler hit three consecutive three-pointers - two by Travis House and one by Derrick Byrd. Steward added a layup to put the Grizzlies up 28-14 with 6:21 left before the break.

House hit his third trey just before the halftime buzzer to give Butler its largest lead of the first half at 45-25. The Grizzlies limited Allen to just 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from the field, while Butler hit nearly 50 percent (20-of-41) in the first half.

Butler led by as many as 32 points in the second half before Allen ended the game on a 24-9 run.

Jermaine Long led all scorers with 21 points for Allen (3-5).

Next up for Butler will be a home contest with Independence on Saturday. Tipoff from the Power Plant is scheduled for 4 p.m.