This weekend was a critical stretch for both Butler and Wright State. Butler played at Detroit Friday and then WSU on Sunday. Wright State hosted Valparaiso Friday before Butler on Sunday.
And each split their pair of games.
After two straight years and seven losses in a row, the Raiders finally got by the Butler Bulldogs 69-64 Sunday evening at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton.
Butler led most of the game..but not by very much. Their biggest lead was six and Wright State didn’t take their first lead until four minutes into the second half. But give the Raiders credit, they hung around and didn’t get disgruntled. In the final minutes, WSU took the lead for good, closing the game on a 14-4 run.
Andrew Smith played hard in his 31 minutes of action. The 6-11 sophomore led Butler with 15 points, his seventh straight game posting double-figures.
The Raiders were led by N’Gai Evans who carried his team in the second half, finishing with 26 points after just six in the first half. They didn’t score a field goal for a five minute stretch during the second half but Evans kept his team in the game from the free throw line because Butler tallied five fouls in the first three minutes of the second half.
With eight seconds remaining, Shelvin Mack pulled up from downtown at the top of the key and everybody thought his three was going down. It spun around the rim before settling at the back of the rim for what seemed like a couple of seconds…and then it rolled off, no good. The basket would have tied the game up at 67 and essentially sent it into over.
The Bulldogs now sit at 13-6, 5-2 with only eight guaranteed games remaining. These losses are slowly adding up including Evansville, Milwaukee and now Wright State. A rowdy crowd was on hand and rushed the court when the buzzer sounded.
Watch the video above to see some video I shot before and after the game, including the fans rushing the floor.