Last Second Tip-In Dooms Butler at Hutchinson

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – In a game that Butler led for 33 minutes, it all came down to a putback with 1.5 seconds to play.

Hutchinson's (17-10, 13-8 KJCCC) DJ Dudley tipped in a missed layup on the Blue Dragons final possession with 1.5 seconds to play as the Grizzlies (18-9, 13-8) suffered a heartbreaking 64-63 defeat at the Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon. The win gives Hutchinson the regular season tiebreaker over the Grizzlies as they swept them. Butler now sits in fifth place in the league standings with Hutch sliding up to fourth.

Butler shot 11-20 from the free throw line and it cost them down the stretch. As Butler trailed Hutch 62-60 with 1:08 to play, Grizzly guard Russell Branch hit an off-balance floater and was fouled by Blue Dragon guard Kobe Smith as the shot tied the game. Branch missed the free throw. Butler then got a stop on Hutchinson's next possession and called a timeout with 38 seconds to play. Following the timeout Kaeson Fisher-Brown missed a layup but Emeka Opurum pulled the offensive rebound down and was fouled in the process. Opurum canned the first free throw to give Butler a 63-62 advantage but the second was off. Hutchinson called timeout with 10 seconds left and proceeded to sneak out with the win following the tip-in.

Opurum led Butler with a monstrous 19-point, 14-rebound double-double. Both marks were season-highs. Branch added 12 points and four assists while Devonte Reed and Devin Kerr each chipped in seven points. The Grizzlies shot 24-63 (38.1%) from the field and 4-23 (17.4%) from three. They outrebounded Hutchinson 41-37 and outscored them in the paint 38-28.

Hutchinson was led by Bo Aldridge's 21 points and 10 rebounds on 8-22 shooting. Aldridge notched his third double-double of the season with two of them coming vs. the Grizzlies. Bobby Cannon finished with 14 points and eight rebounds to go with three blocks. Khalil Arnonld had 10 points off the bench. The Dragons shot 21-57 (36.8%) from the field as a team, 3-16 (18.8%) from three. They converted 19-21 free throws and turned the ball over 11 times to Butler's 12.

The game saw four ties and five lead changes. Butler led by as many as 14 at multiple points. The Grizzlies entered halftime ahead 35-24 and opened the second half with a Branch old fashioned three-point play to take the 14-point lead at the 19:28 mark.

Hutchinson pulled back into the game with a 12-3 run as they trailed 43-30 with 15:43 to play. Arnold scored eight straight of his own during the run with a triple making it 46-42 with 11:53 left. Butler then used an Opurum dunk and a three from Reed to jump back up by nine but the Dragons again used a run, this one a 5-0 run from Cannon to make it a 51-47 Butler lead. The Dragons took a lead for the first time in the second half at the 1:22 mark on an Aldridge layup. The game was scoreless for over three minutes from 4:51 to 1:22 in the half.

Butler led for the final 16:39 of the first half as a Kerr three made it 7-6 and they did not trail again in the half. The Grizzlies were just 1-11 from three in the first half but put in 8-12 from the free throw line and were 12-22 from the field. Opurum had 11 points and eight rebounds at halftime. Hutch shot just 8-28 from the field and 0-9 from three in the first half but turned it around in the second half shooting 44.8% (13-29) from the field.

It marked Butler's eighth conference game this season decided by five or fewer points. It was just the second loss for the Grizzlies this season in which they led at halftime.

Butler turns its attention to Garden City on Wednesday at the Power Plant with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.