Coming off just their second loss of the season Thursday night, the Grizzlies responded well with a convincing 77-63 win over the Colby Trojans Saturday afternoon.
In a game that was originally scheduled for January 27, the Grizzlies and the Trojans finally six games into the season and the Grizzlies came out on top improving to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in KJCCC play.
"We got back to being about us and playing our game," said head coach Kyle Fisher. "I am proud of the guys for responding so well after Thursday and this was a good bounce back win for us."
Butler came alive early on the offensive side of the ball with the help of two thundering dunks by DeeJuan Pruitt early in the game giving the Grizzlies a 22-11 lead at the media timeout. Butler would cool off offensively as Colby held the Grizzlies scoreless in the final 4:01 of the first half but the Grizzlies still maintained a 33-23 lead at the break.
Two three-pointers from Treylon Payne, who scored 12 second half points, would get Butler going early. They held a comfortable lead most of the way until a late run by the Trojans closed the gap to seven with 1:20 to play in the game. A technical foul by the Colby head coach followed by an intentional foul on Domonic Harvey gave Butler free points at the line as the Grizzlies improved the spread to 75-63 under a minute left in the game. An alley-oop by DeeJuan Pruitt as the shot clock expired would close out the game as Butler won it 77-63.
DeeJuan Pruitt had another big game with a team high 18 points, 7-11 shooting with three dunks. He had eight rebounds and was 1-1 from three-point range. Shawn Hopkins came close to his first double-double of the season finishing with 15 points and nine boards. He also dished out four assists and recorded two steals in the contest. Treylon Payne was 2-3 from three and finished with 12 points, all in the second half. Noah Thomassson and Isaiah Williams both ended with 11 points. Thomasson led with eight assists and Williams came down with seven boards and three steals.
Butler out rebounded the Trojans by 11, 33-24 and shared the ball well totaling 17 assists. The Grizzlies led by as many as 23 in the second half as Butler shot 50% from the floor in the second half.
NEXT UP: Butler (5-2, 3-2) will host Barton County (2-3, 1-3) on Wednesday, February 17 in the Power Plant at 7:30pm.
NOTES: First game this season where all five starters scored in double figures…Haven't lost back-to-back game since 2018-19 season… Back-to-back wins over Colby… Fisher is 2-1 overall against the Trojans.
