IOLA, Kan. - The Butler men missed a chance to move into a third-place tie in the Jayhawk West standings Wednesday as they suffered an 85-76 loss at Allen County.
The Grizzlies (14-7 overall, 11-7 conference) briefly led 13-12 midway through the first half, but an 8-0 Allen run over the next two minutes put the Red Devils in front for good.
Allen took a 40-34 halftime lead behind the hot shooting of Jah-Kobe Womack, who hit 4 of 6 three-pointers. The Devils made 53 (16 of 30) from the field in the opening half, while Butler managed just 35 percent (11 of 31).
The Red Devils pushed the lead to 60-48 by the second-half media timeout and led by 15 under the five-minute mark. LaJuan Hardy, who led all scorers with 27 points, pulled the Grizzlies within eight, 73-65 with 2:06 remaining in the contest.
Hardy scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half, hitting 8 of 15 from the field and 5 of 9 beyond the arc. Johnnathan Lindsey finished with his sixth double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Ken Perkins and Karlon McSpadden each added 11 points in the loss.
Womack finished with 20 points to lead Allen County.
Butler will host Independence this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Power Plant. With Wednesday's loss, the Grizzlies are locked into a three-way tie with Garden City and Cloud County for fourth place in the Jayhawk Conference.
