Butler takes fourth straight with 104-92 win over Garden City

Butler takes fourth straight with 104-92 win over Garden City

The Butler men continued to heat things up in January with a 104-92 win over Garden City on Wednesday at the Power Plant. The victory was the Grizzlies' fourth win in a row since the start of the new year.

For Butler, it was a complete reversal of a game earlier this season at Garden City, when Butler lost 105-82 in the first game of conference play.

This time, Butler found itself behind by seven points early on, but responded with a 38-11 run over the next 10 minutes, going ahead 44-24 when LaJuan Hardy hit a 3-pointer with 6:29 left in the first half.

Garden would trim Butler's lead to 11 before Will Adler hit back-to-back 3-pointers in less than 30 seconds. However, Butler would lead 59-44 at the halftime break.

Things would tighten up in the second half for the Grizzlies as Garden City slowed the pace of the game and continued to cut into Butler's lead. The Broncbusters scored five straight points to get within five at 81-76 with 7:57 to play.

Butler responded with an 11-4 run with four points from Johnnathan Lindsey and six from LaJuan Hardy. It was Hardy's 3-pointer with 5:15 to play that put Butler back up by double digits at 92-80.

Garden City would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

LaJuan Hardy led Butler with a career-high 33 points, bettering his previous high of 30 against Tabor JV on Nov. 8. He has scored 59 points in Butler's past two games after scoring 26 last week against Neosho.

Lindsey also had a career high with 27 points before fouling out. He pulled down 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Will Adler had his first double-double of the season and the second of his career with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Ketarrious Bouchum also scored 11 points for Butler. Victor Dukes led Garden City with 27 points.

For Butler, it is the second straight game in which the Grizzlies have scored 100 or more points and the fifth time this season, including the fourth time in conference play.  That surpasses the 2014-15 team that reached the century mark four times during a 29-4 season.

Butler improves to 11-5 on the season and is 8-5 in conference play. Garden City falls to 12-6 (8-6 KJCCC). The Grizzlies will travel to Liberal on Saturday to play at 6-12 (3-11 KJCCC) Seward County. Butler defeated the Saints 103-65 earlier this season in El Dorado.