Finley Bizjack scored a season-high 29 points and matched his career best with six 3-pointers while leading Butler to an 84-68 win over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Michael Ajayi added his seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Butler (7-1) outrebounded Eastern Michigan 36-26, marking the seventh time this season they have secured more boards than their opponent.
Butler shot 51.8% from the floor and went 11-for-20 from 3-point distance.
Mohammad Habhab led Eastern Michigan (5-4) with 15 points, 11 of them coming in the second half. Mak Manciel added 12 points off the bench while Addison Patterson and Carlos Hart both chipped in with 11.
Bizjack shot 10-for-14 from the floor and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. After scoring 14 in the first half, he continued his dominance, notching eight of Butler’s first 11 points in the second. His three-point play gave the Bulldogs a 52-41 lead with 15:01 left. Azavier Robinson later sank a 3-pointer to put Butler up 59-46.
Robinson, however, was ejected with 9:26 remaining following a flagrant-2 foul for kicking Patterson, who was on the ground following a dunk. After the ejection, the Bulldogs went on a 8-2 run to take a 73-57 lead with 5:02 remaining.
Eastern Michigan had multiple scoring droughts of two minutes or longer in the second half.
After Butler held a 25-21 lead in the first half, Eastern Michigan went on an 8-0 run to jump on top. Hart and Aidan Rubio each hit a trey in the surge, and Patterson capped it off with a breakaway dunk off a Rubio steal.
Butler, however, answered immediately with an 16-4 run to take an eight-point lead with 31 seconds remaining in the half. Manciel sent the Eagles into the break trailing by five with a trey before the buzzer.
Eastern Michigan went 6-for-7 from long range in the first half but just 2-for-7 in the second, while Butler went 8-for-11 in the first half and 3-for-9 following the break.
Butler recorded its fourth consecutive victory while Eastern Michigan had a two-game winning streak end.
–Field Level Media
