It didn't take long for the Butler men's basketball team to knock off the 324-day rust as their balanced offensive attack was too much to handle for the Sterling College Warriors Thursday night in front of an empty Power Plant.
Butler scored eight points in the first :57 seconds of the game and never slowed up as they went on to win 117-50 over the Warriors for their first win of the season.
"We are pleased with the win," said second year head coach Kyle Fisher. "We have a lot of guys who haven't played in a real game in a long time and it was good to get them in and some game action again."
Butler had a very balanced attack with seven players scoring in double figures, all 12 players who played scored and 64 of the 117 points came from the bench.
RJ McGarthy, freshman from Arlington, TX, led the charge with 15 points and four rebounds. Treylon Payne, freshman from Little Rock, AR and Karrington Davis, sophomore from St. Louis, MO both finished the night with 14 each. Payne had four assists and two steals while Davis came down with seven rebounds. Keyon Thomas, sophomore point guard score 13 points and dished out eight assists. DeeJuan Pruitt and Noah Thomasson both had 12 and Nick Bowden ended the night with 11. Pruitt added in four rebounds and two monstrous dunks while Thomasson had six assists on the night.
"This is a very unselfish team," commented Fisher. "I think we will see this all year long and we have a lot of guys that can shoot it well and score the basketball."
The Grizzlies had 34 total assists on the night and outrebounded Sterling by 24. Butler shot 61% from the floor and 52% from three-point range knocking down 12 on the night. They held the Warriors to 30% shooting and forced 24 turnovers, scoring 34 points off Sterling turnovers.
"I was a little frustrated with our defense tonight," noted Fisher. "We need to be the hardest working team, especially when we get into KJCCC play. That is a staple of this program, to be the best defending and rebounding team on the floor each and every night."
NEXT UP: Butler will face their final non-conference opponent prior to starting KJCCC play this Saturday, January 23 as they take on Hesston College at 2:00pm from the Power Plant in El Dorado, KS.
NOTES: First game in 324 days…Last time to score 100+ points was on February 19 in a 105-94 win over Cowley…Seven players scored in double figures…34 assists is the most in a game in over 10 years.
