An updated look at the Atlantic 10 Tournament immediately after Butler’s 69-58 win over La Salle in the Quarterfinals. The Bulldogs face St. Louis in the A10 Semi-Finals tomorrow at 1:30 pm.(Photo by Jimmy Cook)
Without a first round bye, it would take 4 wins in as many days for Butler to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tourney. After one of the most team oriented games this season, the Bulldogs are halfway there via a 69-58 victory over #4 seeded LaSalle in the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon.
Butler used 5 in double figures, 49 percent shooting from the field, and a perfect 10-10 shooting from the foul line to advance to tomorrow’s semi-finals against the #1 seeded St. Louis Billikens.
Rotnei Clarke led the way with 14 points despite 2 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc, followed closely behind by Khyle Marshall who registered 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting. Andrew Smith (11 pts), Kameron Woods (10 pts), and Roosevelt Jones (10 pts) rounded out the five Bulldogs scoring in double figures.
A contest close for most of the 1st half started to turn in favor of Butler, when Jones had a running lay-up in the lane bank of the glass, breaking a 35-35 tie and give them a two point lead with :2o.0 seconds to play in the half.
They would never look back.
After taking the 37-35 lead into the halftime locker room, Butler used a jumper by Kellen Dunham at the start of the 2nd half to extend the lead to four. Moments later, La Salle went on a mini 3-0 scoring run to bring the Explorers within 1, but it would be the closest they would come to the Bulldogs.
Leading by as many as 12 down the stretch, Butler used strong defense to accompany their red-hot offense by holding the Explorers scoreless for the final 5:11 of the game.
Despite advancing to the semi-finals, Butler committed 14 turnovers in the victory leading to some concern for their third meeting this season against the Billikens tomorrow afternoon. However, on ESPN 1070 The Fan’s post-game show assistant coach Matthew Graves “alluded to the fact that Butler has felt like now with two games under their belt with St. Louis, they start to have a better scout against them,” said Studio Host for Butler Basketball Radio Network Mark Minner(@MarkMinner) on the air in response to my #ButlerPostgame question.
Overall, the turnover blemish is not enough to take away from the impressive performance the Bulldogs put together Thursday afternoon.
Proving once again that shooting lights out from beyond the arc is not required for them to win, (3 of 15, 20% 3FG vs La Salle), Butler seems to be clicking on all cylinders and the pieces of head coach Brad Steven’s puzzle are finally starting to fit into place.
One of the main pieces missing?
A win over the Billikens of Saint Louis, who have already defeated the Bulldogs twice this season.
For Butler’s sake, let’s hope the third time is the charm.
-Jimmy Cook
Follow on Twitter:@theJCook