Michael Ajayi celebrated Senior Day by delivering 24 points and nine rebounds as Butler held off a second-half rally by Xavier in an 80-75 Big East win Saturday in Indianapolis.
Another senior, Yohan Traore, made all five of his shots from the floor, contributing 21 points as the Bulldogs (15-13, 6-11 Big East) won their second straight after losing six in a row.
Finley Bizjack, who finished with 18 points, hit three free throws in the final 23 seconds to nail down the win after Xavier made a late rush to reduce a 21-point deficit to two.
With the win, the Bulldogs avenged a loss last month to the Musketeers and snapped a four-game losing streak in the series.
Butler coach Thad Matta didn’t sit long on his milestone 500th career win, which came three days earlier at Georgetown. Before the tip, the school presented Matta with a Bulldogs jersey emblazoned with the No. 500.
Big East scoring leader Tre Carroll delivered 24 points and seven rebounds for Xavier (13-14, 5-11), which lost for the seventh time in its last nine games.
Malik Messina-Moore chipped in with 20 points for the Musketeers, who pulled to within 77-75 with 1:55 left as Jovan Milicevic made a driving layup.
After that, Xavier missed its final three shots from the floor, and each time, Butler corralled the rebound.
Before the game was six minutes old, Ajayi staked Butler to an early lead, scoring 11 of his points.
Yame Butler and Jamie Kaiser Jr. followed with the first two field goals for Butler not scored by Ajayi, putting the Bulldogs up 19-9.
Later in the half, Traore scored the final seven points of a 12-2 run which expanded Butler’s advantage to 43-22 with 3:47 left.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Isaiah Walker and Messina-Moore hit back-to-back triples to cut Butler’s lead to 49-36.
Messina-Moore scored five points in a 7-0 run as the Musketeers got the deficit into single digits at 57-49.
In a four-minute span, Carroll made a trio of 3-pointers, then Milicevic added another later to fuel the comeback.
–Field Level Media
