Michael Ajayi recorded 28 points and 15 rebounds to lead Butler to a 113-110 double-overtime victory over Providence on Saturday in the Big East opener for each team in Indianapolis.
Ajayi, a 6-foot-7 forward, has had a double-double in eight of the Bulldogs’ 10 games this season.
Butler (8-2) scored the final six points in the second OT. After Evan Haywood’s 3-pointer broke a 110-110 tie with 35 seconds to play, Providence’s Jaylin Sellers missed a 3-pointer with six seconds left.
Finley Bizjack added 26 points and Evan Haywood scored 18 for Butler.
Providence’s Jason Edwards connected on 6-of-13 3-point attempts and led all scorers with 32 points. Sellers finished with 26, and Oswin Erhunmwunse had nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Friars (7-5) entered the contest on a three-game winning streak.
Butler scored the game’s first seven points, but a 7-0 run gave Providence its first lead, 17-16 with 11:20 left in the first half. The Friars led 40-35 following a Sellers jumper with 1:48 remaining in the half, and held a 45-41 halftime lead.
Providence extended its advantage to 58-50 – its largest lead of the game – on an Edwards 3-pointer with 15:04 to play in regulation, but Butler tied it at 62 on Azavier Robinson’s 3-pointer with 12:28 left.
Butler had its first lead in the second half after Jamie Kaiser Jr. converted a three-point play to put the Bulldogs up 67-65 with 9:07 remaining. Butler led 79-74, but a Sellers 3-pointer tied the game, 79-79, with 3:24 left.
Butler took an 89-87 lead on a Kaiser’s 3-pointer, but two Sellers free throws tied the game with 19 seconds remaining in regulation. The game went to overtime after Bizjack missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
A Stefan Vaaks free throw tied it, 100-100, with 15 seconds left in overtime, and the game went to a second OT after Ajayi missed a jumper at the buzzer.
–Field Level Media
