The Butler men came away with a strong defensive effort during Wednesday's 78-49 home victory over Cloud County at the Power Plant.
Grehlon Easter led Butler (18-6 overall, 11-4 conference) with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Juwan White recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to keep the Grizzlies one game ahead of Independence for second place in the Jayhawk East standings.
Butler trailed early 3-2 just two minutes into the contest, but a 10-0 run sparked by a Marque English layup and an Easter 3-pointer had the Grizzlies in front the rest of the evening.
Up 24-17 midway through the half, Butler made a 17-6 run to build an 18-point lead, 41-23 - its largest of the first half.
The T-Birds cut Butler's deficit to 47-35 with 16:07 remaining in the second half, but Cloud's offense went cold from the field till the final buzzer, making just four of its final 28 shots. During that span, Butler outscored Cloud 31-14 to pull away for the win.
With Butler leading 57-43 at the 9:09 mark, the Grizzlies used a 12-1 run to put the game out of reach. English and Javaunte Hawkins opened the run with baskets, then after a Cloud free throw, Butler scored eight quick points in less than an 80-second span.
During that span, Ndongo Ndaw scored two quick field goals, Easter followed with steal and dunk and White added a layup to put Butler up 69-44.
Butler's biggest margin of the night came after a 7-0 run, capped by a Jude Warren 3-pointer for a 76-46 lead with under a minute remaining. Brice scored the first four points of the spurt, hitting a 3-pointer and adding 1-of-2 foul shots.
Butler shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field, while Cloud struggled to make just 26.2 percent (17-of-65) on the night.
The Grizzlies will have a key matchup Saturday afternoon when they travel to Iola for a showdown against Allen. Butler edged the Red Devils 93-90 in overtime back on Jan. 15 in El Dorado, as the Grizzlies rallied from a 13-point deficit and trailed by eight with 1:48 in regulation before storming back to force overtime. Javaunte Hawkins ended up with the game-winning 3-pointer by hitting a 27-footer with 6.5 seconds remaining.
Allen (15-9, 9-5), who opened conference play with seven straight wins, is just 2-5 in its last seven league games. The Red Devils stepped out of conference action for an 86-61 win over Oklahoma Wesleyan JV on Monday. Tipoff from Iola is at 4:00 p.m.
