Story by Wyatt Ebersole
It certainly wasn't an easy win, but the Butler Men handled their business against #13 ranked Coffeyville in front of an electric home crowd on Wednesday night in the Power Plant. The win is huge for the Grizzlies as it now moves them into a tie for first place in the Jayhawk Conference with Coffeyville and Dodge City at 12-5 in conference play. The loss for Coffeyville means that they now have some company in first place in the rugged Jayhawk Conference.
As has been the case in most games for the Butler Men, things started slow offensively with defense doing all the talking for the Grizzlies. Coffeyville was the first to find any consistent offense in the game, as a 15-9 run, powered by three threes from Amare Haynie had Coffeyville up 22-14 with under ten minutes left in the half. Later after another Haynie three, the Red Ravens led 29-17 and the Grizzlies were desperate for some offensive answers. The Grizzlies managed to breakdown the Coffeyville lead with layups and great defense and in just a couple of minutes, the Butler Men were back within one point at 33-32 with 3:53 left after an Isaiah Williams bucket. The Red Ravens ended the half on a 7-1 run and took a 40-33 lead into the locker room.
The Red Ravens again tried to fly away with a run out of the half that saw them again go up by double digits, but the Grizzlies were here to play and weren't going anywhere. The Butler Men halted the Red Raven run and went to work grinding down the lead. A 20-9 run for the Grizzlies over the next seven minutes was capped off by a top of the key three from Tahjae Hill that gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the game since Rob Brown's dunk that started the game's scoring. The Grizzlies lead of 61-60 was brief as Coffeyville would score seconds later and that started a back-and-forth between the teams over the next three minutes. The Butler Men went up by two scores after a pair of Tahjae Hill free throws to make it 69-65 with 5:24 left to play in the game. The Red Ravens weren't done for and two minutes later, it was a one score game again after a Coffeyville three made it 73-71 with 3:24 to go. This was as close as the Red Ravens managed to get as an 6-0 Grizzly run was just what was needed to put the game away and the Grizzlies defeated first place Coffeyville 83-75.
The schedule remains stiff for the Grizzlies over the next week as they travel to the Sports Arena on Saturday to wrangle with the Blue Dragons of Hutchinson and then make the long drive to Dodge City the next Wednesday to battle with the Conquistadors in what could be a game to decide sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk Conference.
NOTES: Butler is 8-13 against Coffeyville since 2011 and now 5-4 in the Kyle Fisher era (since 2019)…The Grizzlies have now swept the season series with Coffeyville in back-to-back years…The Butler Men have won 8 of their last 9…Isaiah Williams finished with his third double-double of the season...The Butler Men have now overcome double-digit deficits in four games this season (at Coffeyville, at Cowley, at Indy, vs Coffeyville)
