Pierre Brooks II scored 19 and Andre Screen added 16 to lead Butler to an 82-77 win over Seton Hall, putting the Bulldogs nine-game skid to an end.
Butler (8-10, 1-6 Big East) also got 11 points from Kolby King and 10 from Jahmyl Telfort.
Chaunce Jenkins led Seton Hall (6-11, 1-5) with 21 on 7-of-12 shooting. Scotty Middleton added 14 and Prince Aligbe added 12.
It was a tightly contested first half, but Butler held the lead most of the half and went into the break up 41-35.
Seven of eight Bulldogs players scored and the team had nine assists on 13 made field goals. Butler struggled to shoot from deep, going 5-for-13, but shot 50 percent from the field overall.
In the second half, both teams came out firing, with Butler making five-of-six shots and Seton Hall making six-of-seven going into the under-12 media timeout.
The Bulldogs then slowed the Pirates down while continuing to excel offensively, growing their lead as high as 13.
Seton Hall didn’t give up though, bringing their deficit down to five with 4:30 to play thanks to a 7-0 run. Butler didn’t make a field goal for nearly five minutes during that stretch.
Jahseem Felton then hit a 3-pointer for Seton Hall with two minutes left to bring deficit down to just two at 74-72.
Patrick McCaffery hit a floater off the glass to put Butler up 76-72 with 42 seconds left, ending a stretch of three minutes without scoring. From there, the Bulldogs took care of the game from the free-throw line.
Butler’s now finished nine-game skid was their longest since the 1989-90 season.
Seton Hall had won nine of the previous 10 games in the series. The Pirates have now lost seven of their last eight games dating back to the final two games before conference play.
–Field Level Media
Anthony Davis scored 22 points with 11 rebounds, LeBron James added 22 points with nine assists and the Los Angeles Lakers ended a three-game losing streak by rallying for a…
Trey Kaufman-Renn had 19 points and six rebounds to help No. 17 Purdue overcome a slow first half and notch a 69-58 victory over Washington in Big Ten play on…
Julia Ayrault and Emma Shumate scored 12 points apiece and Grace VanSlooten added 11 as No. 24 Michigan State survived for a 70-60 win over Rutgers on Wednesday in Piscataway,…
Second-half burst carries No. 17 Purdue past Washington
Women’s Top 25 roundup: No. 24 Michigan St. gets past Rutgers
Rising Florida State powers past slumping Pitt
Mark Williams lifts Hornets to rare road win at Utah