Second Half Lead Erased as No. 17 Butler Drops January Opener to No. 21 Hutchinson

EL DORADO, Kan. – The No. 17 Butler Grizzlies fell 63-60 to No. 21 Hutchinson in a tight battle on Wednesday evening at the Power Plant.

The loss was Butler's (10-3, 5-2 KJCCC) second in league play. All three losses for Butler this season have been to ranked opponents. Hutchinson moved to 11-2 overall, 6-1 in KJCCC play with the win.

Wednesday's game served as the first of the spring semester for both teams, before classes began for Butler. Butler's two game win streak over Hutchinson was snapped.

A go-ahead three pointer from Kamryn Thomas to give Hutchinson a 62-60 lead with 39 seconds to play served as the dagger. After a timeout following the Thomas three, Butler turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and Hutchinson came away with it and was fouled, and John-Paul Ricks made a free throw to give Hutch a three-point lead. The Grizzlies did not score again in the game.

"The story of the game is in the last six minutes we did not get critical stops," said head coach Kyle Fisher. "They got three or four offensive rebounds in that stretch. We are usually better than that."

Butler took its largest lead of the game with 8:05 left as Amare Haynie knocked down a three off an assist from Anthony 'AJ' Williams to make it 50-41 Butler. The Grizzlies led for a majority of the last 10 minutes of the game. They took a 41-39 lead with 10:48 left off a Jason 'Deuce' Drake layup and held the lead until Hutchinson's Valentino Simon made a jump shot with 1:07 remaining to give the Blue Dragons a 59-58 lead. It was back and forth for the final minute but Thomas' shot from the top of the key did the Grizzlies in.

Hutchinson's Thomas led all scorers with 21 points, shooting 3-8 from deep. The other Blue Dragon to reach double figures was Dadrevius Weathers who totaled 10 points and seven rebounds. For Butler, Jamichael Stillwell tallied his seventh double-double of the season posting 16 points and 12 rebounds despite missing a big chunk of the game due to foul trouble. He shot 3-5 from deep. Charles McClennahan Jr. had 15 points and four rebounds while Kaleb Washington racked up 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Williams paced Butler with four assists.

As a team Butler shot 43.8% from the field compared to Hutch's 40.7%. Both teams were unimpressive from the free throw line as Butler was 13-23 (56.5%) and Hutchinson was 11-22 (50%). Despite Hutchinson's high-pressure defense, the turnover difference was narrow with the Grizzlies coughing the ball up 18 times to the Blue Dragon's 14. Butler was 5-14 (35.7%) from three-point range with Hutchinson shooting 4-16 (25%).

"When you play a team like Hutch who pressures you and fouls, you know you'll get to the bonus and you have to convert those," said Fisher. "We adjusted pretty well in the second half but when you play a team like this you have to make layups and free throws."

The first half saw Hutchinson grab a 10-point lead, 25-15, with 6:55 left as Simon put in a layup. It was their largest lead of the game. The Grizzlies battled back with a 7-0 run as Stillwell nailed one of his three three's, made two free throws a few possessions later and Kaleb Washington capped it off with a layup to make it 25-22. The Blue Dragons went into halftime leading 30-25. Stillwell had 12 of his 16 points in the first half, knocking down all three of his three pointers from the top of the key to fight off multiple Blue Dragon runs.

"We have to respond," said Fisher. "We have to learn from this and own it. Be willing to come back in and get to work."

Next up for Butler is the Colby Trojans on the road this Saturday, Jan. 6th, at 4 p.m. CT. Streaming and audio links will be available at ButlerGrizzlies.com.