Butler defeats the Sycamores in Sears Bracketbusters

The Indiana State Sycamores were defeated on the road, 75-54, by the Butler Bulldogs Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

"They were more ready to play. They came out with more of a sense of urgency. They competed harder." Indiana State head coach, Greg Lansing, said. "We just came out like we weren't ready to go."

Sophomore forward, RJ Mahurin, started for the Sycamores in place of senior forward, Carl Richard, who was sidelined for Saturday's game with the flu. Mahurin provided a spark for the Sycamores and scored a career-high 22 points and connected on four of his six 3-point attempts. Senior guard, Dwayne Lathan, added 10 points to go along with five rebounds.

Butler was led by a balanced offensive attack, tallying five players scoring in double-digits. Butler junior center, Andrew Smith, led the Bulldogs with 12 points to go along with 5 rebounds.

With the loss ISU drops their record to 16-12 overall, while remaining 7-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Butler, however, improves to 17-12 overall and remains 10-6 in the Horizon League.

The Sycamores found themselves trailing early in the game as Butler freshman forward, Roosevelt Jones, drove to the basket and scored just 14 seconds into the game, igniting a 7-2 run for the Bulldogs.  Butler's lead grew to as many as 15 points in the first half thanks to a layup from sophomore forward Erik Fromm, at the 10:10 mark, giving the Bulldogs a 23-8 lead.

Indiana State senior guard Jordan Printy buried a 3-pointer at the 9:02 mark to cut the deficit to 12 and ISU sparked a run of their own. ISU would go on a 14-5 run over the next five minutes thanks to three field goals, including two 3-pointers from Mahurin, cutting the Bulldog lead to just seven with 5:55 left in the first half.

Despite a strong comeback attempt to close the half from the Sycamores, the Bulldogs were, again, able to extend their lead. The Sycamores trailed by 10, 27-37, as the teams entered their respective locker rooms at halftime.

"I felt like we were getting to the basket, but not finishing strong." Indiana State head coach, Greg Lansing, said. "At the other end, Butler was finishing strong and drawing fouls and all those things."

The Bulldogs would continue their hot shooting in the second half, shooting 48 percent from the field in the final period, as well as nearly doubling the Sycamores on the glass by a rebounding margin of 43-28 for the game.

With 8:17 remaining in the game, Butler freshman guard, Jackson Aldridge, was fouled and converted on two free throws to give the Bulldogs a 65-42 lead, their largest of the game.  Sycamore sophomore guard, Lucas Eitel, scored, thanks to an assist from Lathan, with just under four minutes remaining on the game clock that would cut the deficit to 14, but Butler answered with a 3-pointer to stretch the lead back out to 17 for the Bulldogs, diminishing any hopes for a comeback from the Sycamores.

The Sycamores will be back in action Wednesday, February 22 when they travel to Springfield, Missouri to take on the Missouri State Bears. Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m.