Story by Wyatt Ebersole
In one of the most exciting and electric games of the season so far, the Butler Men laid claim to their first Region VI Championship in over a decade with a dramatic 73-69 victory over the Barton Cougars on Saturday night in the Garvey Center on the campus of Friends University. The win earns the Grizzlies a spot at the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas that begins on March 20th. The win for the Grizzlies is their fourth straight, and 25th on the year, improving their record to 25-8 heading into the tournament. The loss for the Cougars will sting as they now must hope for an at-large bid to continue their season.
Both teams began the game with their defense doing most of the talking, as it took over five minutes for one side to break into double digits. The Grizzlies were the first to reach ten points as an Isaiah Williams three gave the Grizzlies an early 10-7 edge. Barton responded to this with a 12-2 run to go up 19-12 less than five minutes later, but the Grizzlies found answers, retaking the lead at the 6:00 mark with a Javon Grant jumper at 27-25. The teams traded blows the rest of the half, with neither team getting an edge bigger than two, and the Grizzlies and Cougars entered the locker room locked up at 38-38.
Barton opened the second half with a quick scoring run to again go up by seven points just over three minutes into the half, but the Grizzlies again found solutions, breaking out on an 8-0 run of their own that was helped by a technical foul issued to Barton head coach Jeremy Coombs with 13:57 left to go in the half. The resulting free throws gave the Grizzlies the lead back at 46-45 and the Grizzlies made it a four point lead a minute later after a layup from Isaiah Williams and an Isaac Ondekane free throw. The Cougars bounced back with a 5-0 run to put themselves back in front 50-49 at the under-10-minute media timeout. Defense would be the story of the next three minutes, as neither team made a basket for over three minutes, but Barton's Joseph Locandro splashed a three with 6:55 left to break the bucket drought and give the Cougs a 54-52 lead. After some basket trading, Ondekane gave the Grizzlies the lead back at 60-58 with a soft lay in with 3:15 left to play. Barton would respond with an and-1 to retake the lead, but Treylon Payne would make a layup and then Javon Grant made one of the greatest plays of the year seconds later. Grant managed to deflect and steal an errant Barton pass, he then rushed down the floor, making an athletic finish at the other end that he was fouled on to give the Grizzlies the lead and a huge momentum swing. Javon's big bucket and free throw put Butler up a 65-61 with 1:31 left to go. Barton wasn't done, making it 65-63 with 44 seconds left, but the Grizzlies went a remarkable 8/8 at the free throw line over the final minute that ultimately gave the Grizzlies the win. Barton did get a chance to steal the win away from Butler as they managed to force a turnover down two with nine seconds to go. Barton's best shooter, Cougar Downing, got a wide open moving three from the left elbow, but his shot was long, and was what gave the Grizzlies the hard-earned win.
Four Grizzlies finished in double-figures with Isaiah Williams leading the way with 15 points. Barton shot nearly 50% from behind the arc in the game, but missed the big one late. The game was always close with neither side leading by more than seven points. The game featured a whopping 16 lead changes and the game was tied up 15 different times.
As mentioned, the Grizzlies season will continue in ten days at the NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Sports Arena where they will play against an unknown opponent. The Grizzlies will find out their opponent and their tournament seed on Sunday night at 6PM central time
NOTES: Barton leads the series against 11-9 since 2011…Butler is 5-2 against Barton in the Kyle Fisher era…Butler is now 7-3 in Region VI Playoff games in the Kyle Fisher era and 1-1 in championship games...#4 seeded Butler is the lowest seed to win the tournament since the 2019-20 season when Coffeyville won it as a #5 seed…
