Story by Wyatt Ebersole

It took an all out effort, but the Butler Men picked a huge win over rival Hutchinson Saturday night at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The win is the Grizzlies third straight and ninth in the last ten games. The win improves the Grizzlies to 19-5 overall and 13-5 in conference play. This big win also keeps the Grizzlies very much in the Jayhawk Conference title race. The loss for Hutchinson is a big one as it drops them down to 15-9 overall and 9-9 in conference play which means that the Blue Dragons are now in seventh place in the conference standings. 

The Grizzlies started the game on top scoring 6 of the game's first 8 points and branched out into an early 14-9 lead. Hutch found some offensive rhythm and went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game with 11 minutes left in the first half. Both sides would enter a slump offensively with good defense dominating the rest of the half. Hutch would retake the lead at the five-minute mark 23-22, but a response three from Javon Grant would put the Grizzlies back in front 25-23. After Grant's three, the Grizzlies lead the rest of the half behind some more great defense and a big 12-2 run to end the half gave the Grizzlies a double-digit lead heading into the locker room at 37-27. 

The second half began much like the first. A back-and-forth defensive oriented battle. The Grizzlies continued to stifle the Blue Dragon offensive attack and held a lead of seven or more through the first five minutes. An Isaiah Williams three at the 14:58 mark of the half gave the Grizzlies another double-digit advantage at 50-40. Hutch would continue to make small in roads on the Grizzly lead, but the Butler offense managed to consistently find a response over the first nine minutes of the second half. The Blue Dragons managed to cut the Grizzly lead down to just two with ten minutes left play after a quick 8-0 burst to make the score 57-55 Grizzlies and then an and-1 for Hutchinson made it 59-58 Grizzlies just 20 seconds later. The Blue Dragons would take their first lead of the second half on a deep three from Aaron Franklin made 64-61 Hutch. Treylon Payne found an answer on the next possession on a physical basket that cut the deficit to one.  The teams would trade a pair of tough jump shots before Tahjae Hill would bury a corner three to give the Grizzlies the lead back at 68-66 with 5:32 left to play. A free throw for Isaiah Williams and a basket from Tahjae Hill pushed the Grizzlies lead back out to five, but a quick Blue Dragon three made it a two-point game with 4:31 left and the Grizzlies up 71-69. Hutchinson would find a tying basket less than one minute later, but Hill found a terrific and-1 basket to put the Grizzlies back in front 74-71. The Grizzlies then began to put some distance on the Dragons as Tahj's and-1 was the start of a 12-4 Grizzly run that put the Butler Men up 83-75. Hutch wasn't done for, as they found an and-1 basket with under 30 seconds left that made it 83-78. That was as close as the Dragons would get as the Grizzlies made their free throws the rest of the way and picked up the win over the Blue Dragons 87-80.

The Grizzlies will have their most important game of the season so far this coming Wednesday on the road in Dodge City in what will be a battle for first place in the Jayhawk Conference.

NOTES: Butler is now 69-128 against Hutch all time and 4-3 in the Kyle Fisher Era…First Grizzly win at the Sports Arena since January 7th, 2015…The Grizzlies are 18-50 at the Sports Arena and 22-66 at Hutch all-time