The Butler men's basketball season came to an abrupt end Monday night in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament as a late Garden City run propelled the Broncbusters to the upset victory of the Grizzlies 79-69.
"I didn't really know what to say in the locker room as I didn't have anything planned to be knocked out this early," said head coach Kyle Fisher. "Garden City was the better team tonight; they were more aggressive and executed what they do better than we did. They got off to a good start early and had a lot of confidence the rest of the way out."
It was a game of runs as both teams had moments throughout the game where they went on a run offensively with four different lead changes and four ties throughout the contest. Garden City started the game on a 13-2 run, but the Grizzlies stormed back and tied it up at 17-17 after a Keyon Thomas three-pointer. Garden City responded with a 7-0 run and maintained a three-possession lead most of the half but a three at the buzzer from Karrington Davis put the Grizzlies within one, 32-29 at the break.
Butler battled back early in the half and then rattled off a 15-4 run taking the lead after a Donyae McCaskill layup followed by two free throws from DeeJuan Pruitt giving the Grizzlies a 51-50 lead with 8:02 left in the game. The run continued for a few more possessions with Butler taking their largest lead of the game 59-55 with 6:12 left and forced a Broncbuster timeout.
After the timeout, Garden City came out and outscored Butler 24-10 in the final six minutes to win the game 79-69. Butler got within two with 1:41 left to play but Garden City scored eight points in :40 seconds after two untimely turnovers by the Grizzlies that put the game away.
"We have higher expectations than to be out in the first round of the Region tournament and we will be better moving forward and better prepared to make a run next year," said Fisher in his postgame comments.
Garden City shot 51% from the field and 44% from behind the arc while the Grizzlies connected on just 37% from the floor and 5-23 (22%) from three. Garden City got a spark from their bench player in Rodney 'June' Lewis who had 20 points off the bench for the Broncbusters.
Noah Thomasson led Butler with 18 points on the night and seven rebounds. Donyae McCaskill gave the Grizzlies good minutes off the bench scoring 13 points and was 7-10 from the free throw line. Shawn Hopkins finished his career at Butler with 12 points, three steals and two blocks.
"It was a crazy year from the end of the season last year to today," commented Fisher. "As good as we played at points throughout this season, I never felt we were completely ourselves. It was just a very different year for everyone."
Butler sophomore Shawn Hopkins closed out a great career with the Grizzlies Monday night and it was a hard one to swallow.
"It was an emotional thank you when I spoke to Shawn after the game," said Fisher. "He is a warrior and such a great competitor. He would play anywhere on the floor and play it well. He competed all season long and led this team the last two seasons. I am excited to watch him in the future as he has a bright future wherever he goes, and I am grateful for his effort and everything he gave to this Butler program."
Hopkins led the Grizzlies in scoring this season averaging 15.8 points per game on 48% shooting. He averaged 6.4 rebounds per game and 2.2 assists while playing just under 30 minutes a game for the Grizzlies. Hopkins had a season high 29 points in an 87-70 win over Barton in late February. Hopkins totaled 575 points and 259 rebounds during his two years at Butler.
The Grizzlies finished the shortened season 16-7 overall and 14-6 in KJCCC play. They were third in the KJCCC East behind No. 5 Coffeyville and No. 15 Cowley. They were ranked inside the NJCAA Top 20 a handful of times and were receiving votes most of the year. Butler will now look to the future and start the building process for next season, with the hopes of everything getting back to normal.
