Butler men edge Colby in OT thriller, advances to Region VI final

DODGE CITY, Kan. – Behind late rallies in both regulation and overtime, the Butler men advanced to the Region VI championship for the first time in 10 seasons with a thrilling 98-97 victory over Jayhawk West champion Colby on Monday.

Butler (25-7) will square off against Coffeyville in Tuesday's 7:00 p.m. final, pitting Grizzly first-year head coach Kyle Fisher against his former boss, Red Ravens head coach Jay Herkelman. The Grizzlies move into to the Region VI title game for the first time since the 2009-10 season, when the Grizzlies defeated Coffeyville 72-60 to win the title.

With the win, the Grizzly men and women will both be playing in the Region VI title game in the same year for the first time since the 1995-96 season. The Butler women advanced to the title game with a 70-65 win over Seward County. 

The Grizzly men won the semifinal tilt by erasing a pair of five-point leads in the final two minutes of regulation and the extra period – receiving clutch performances from Javaunte Hawkins, Shawn Hopkins and Grehlon Easter in the come-from behind win.

"They did it throughout the game on both sides of the ball," Fisher said. "You don't coach that. You don't teach that. They continued to hang in there and do that, even when their back was against the wall. "It wasn't about anything our staff did. It was about guys being tough, being relentless, sticking together and making plays."

With 16 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting, Hawkins hit key baskets for the Grizzlies – including a game-tying trey in regulation and the eventual game-winner lay-in with 31 seconds in overtime.

Hopkins finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and had a key block in the final seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.

Easter struggled in Sunday's quarterfinal win over Neosho, making just 1-of-14 from the field and finished with two points. On Monday, Easter came out on fire by making his first four shots, finishing on 6-of-10 shooting and making 13-of-14 foul shots while finishing with a team-high 28 points.

"I felt like I owed it to my teammates to come out and play better for them," said Easter, who scored Butler's first five points of the overtime frame. "I didn't play too good, but they all stayed positive, kept picking me up and told me to keep shooting the ball. I felt like I owed it to the team and I tried to come out aggressive and got the job done."

In regulation, Butler trailed Colby 85-80 with 1:23 remaining. The Grizzlies pulled within three when Hopkins snagged a block deflection of a Hawkins shot and laid the ball through the hoop. After a Colby 3-point miss, Hawkins drained a 25-footer from the right side to tie the game at 85-all with 32.7 seconds left.

With a two-second differential between the game and shot clock, Sharp dribbled out Colby's final possession in regulation before passing to Eddie Davis for a 3-point attempt with seven seconds remaining, but Hopkins tipped a partial deflection.

"I just basically rotated over and Davis was wide open, so he had to shoot it," Hopkins said about his block. "I just challenged it. I was just so happy I got the block."

Butler got the ball to Hawkins for a 30-foot desperation heave that went off the back rim as time expired.

In the overtime frame, Hawkins sparked a comeback with a 3-pointer in front of the Grizzly bench to pull Butler within one, 95-94, with 1:33 remaining. Hopkins followed moments later with a steal off an errant Colby pass near the sideline and broke away for a slam dunk for a 96-95 lead.

"I gambled a little bit," Hopkins noted on the steal. "It was just a loose ball. I didn't want the ball to go out of bounds, so I took it all the way."

After Colby's Davis tied the game with 1-for-2 foul shots, Hawkins sliced through two Trojan defenders with a driving lay-in off the glass to Butler in front 98-96 with just 31 seconds to play.

"I came off a screen, and (Colby) hedged a little bit, then backed up and I realized I didn't want to take a tough 3 and force a shot like that," Hawkins said. "I saw an opening, took it to the rim and finish it."

Butler's Marque English picked up his fifth foul with 5.9 seconds, sending Colby's Matt Mcfarlane to potentially tie the game. Mcfarlane missed the first shot and made the second, then the Trojans fouled Hawkins – an 88.3 percent foul shooter – with 4.9 seconds left.

Hawkins missed both attempts, forcing Colby – with no timeouts – to get the ball up-court to Sharp for a game-winning shot attempt. However, Butler pressured until the final buzzer as a late shot attempt left Sharp's hands well after the clock reached zero.

"It's crazy to me," Hawkins said. "I normally don't miss free throws like that, but I knew I had to keep my head in it because the game wasn't over. We had to get the last defensive stop. I've got to make those free throws, but I'm just happy we got the win."

Colby led for most of the first half, grabbing a 30-21 lead after an 8-2 run before the midway point of the half.

The Grizzlies took their only lead of the regulation in the later stages of the first half behind a 7-0 run, with an Easter steal leading to a White transition layup to start. Hawkins followed with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing, then after a Colby turnover, Hopkins was fouled on a lane drive, then made both both free throws for a 43-40 Butler lead with 3:06 left. Colby and Butler exchanged leads, with the Grizzlies going back in front on a Kamron Brice corner trey and a Hopkins lay-in on an assist by White.

Colby took a 49-48 lead into the break, with Sharp hitting a jumper in the final minute of the half.

Butler tied the game three times in the second half, but could never grab the lead. Hawkins nailed a 25-footer from the left wing to knot the game at 56-all with 14:18 to play, then re-tied the game again at 65-65 at the 10:04 mark on a White floater just outside the lane.

Colby quickly erased the tie with a 12-3 run, ending with consecutive 3-pointers from Davis and Alexandre Fanchini. Down 77-68 with 7:20 to play, Butler kept pace with the Trojans, answering baskets to keep within three on three straight possessions before scoring the final five points in the last 1:07.

Colby (27-5 overall) came into Monday's semifinal riding a 12-game winning streak and had won 16 of its last 17 games. The Trojans handed Butler its first conference loss of the season in a 92-73 meeting in Colby way back on Nov. 30.

"When we played at their house, that was a game that the whole team didn't feel like we played at our best," Easter said. "We felt like we could have done better – both defensively and offensively. This time, we just made sure we didn't make the same mistakes."

With three wins over then-top 10 ranked teams in the NJCAA poll and five Top 25 wins on the season, Fisher firmly believes Butler should be considered for an at-large bid to the National Tournament in Hutchinson, but he's hoping his Grizzlies won't have to wait until selection day to be called.

"We're definitely in the conversation," Fisher said. "I don't think there's any question, but we're going to go out (against Coffeyville) and put our best foot forward. We're not going to leave it up to a committee. We're going to go earn it the old school way and win a Region championship. That's what we're going to be working for."

NOTES: Butler will be playing in its 10th Region VI championship game, where they are 5-4 all-time. The Grizzlies are 2-0 vs. Coffeyville in Region VI title games, winning the crown in 1996 and 2010… Butler has a 64-57 record in all-time postseason history, including a 55-33 record in the Region VI Tournament.