Butler men win 83-73 over Neosho in home finale

Butler men win 83-73 over Neosho in home finale

The Butler men cruised to a big halftime lead over visiting Neosho County on Saturday at the Power Plant and then cruised from there to an 83-73 victory over the Panthers in the final game of the season at the Power Plant.

Butler (14-14 overall, 11-14 conference) will finish the regular season on the road at Colby on Monday and then will be on the road in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday.

Butler trailed 7-6 against Neosho early on, but a 9-0 run midway through the half helped the Grizzlies go up 21-11 after an Adrian Moore 3-pointer with 8:57 to go until halftime.

The Grizzlies would continue to build the lead, going up 42-25 at the half.

Neosho made a run to start the second half and cut Butler's lead to just six at 52-46 with 14:06 to go. Butler then started connecting from three-point land, getting three of them from Karlon McSpadden as part of a 12-8 surge that put Butler back up by double digits at 64-54.

Butler would go on to lead by as many as 20 after a Ketarrious Bouchum free throw made it a 79-59 game with 4:20 remaining.

Russell Smith led Butler with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Bouchum had 17 points and 14 rebounds in his final game at the Power Plant.

Adrian Moore scored 13 and McSpadden had 11 for Butler.