NCAA BB  FIESTA BOWL TRADITION

         FINAL               1ST 2ND     TOTAL
                             --- ---     -----
         BUTLER               28  32       60
         ARIZONA (10)         32  40       72    FINAL

 HIGH SCORERS:  BUTLER - RYLAN HAINJE 18, LAVALL JORDAN 10, JOEL
                CORNETTE 10
                ARIZONA - LOREN WOODS 25, MICHAEL WRIGHT 16,
                JASON GARDNER 13

 HIGH REBOUND:  BUTLER - RYLAN HAINJE 6, TWO PLAYERS WITH 3
                ARIZONA - LOREN WOODS 9, TWO PLAYERS WITH 8

 HIGH ASSISTS:  BUTLER - THOMAS JACKSON 8, BRANDON MILLER 5
                ARIZONA - FOUR PLAYERS WITH 3

          ATT:  14,565
                                                                        

Box Score

BUTLER (60)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Jordan          37  4-10   0-0   2-3  0  1   10
Hainje          24  7-12   2-5   4-6  0  3   18
Cornette        21   4-7   2-2   1-1  0  5   10
Miller          31   1-5   2-2   0-1  5  5    5
Jackson         36  3-11   2-4   1-3  8  1    9
Archey          10   2-7   0-0   0-0  0  0    4
Lightfoot       20   1-1   0-0   1-2  0  4    2
Walls           11   0-2   0-0   1-1  0  3    0
Curry           10   1-3   0-0   1-1  0  2    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-58  8-13 11-18 13 24   60
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.397, FT-.615. 3-Point Goals:
6-20, .300 (Jordan 2-5, Hainje 2-3, Miller 1-4,
Jackson 1-2, Archey 0-4, Walls 0-2). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 13
(Hainje 4, Jackson 3, Jordan 2, Cornette, Curry,
Lightfoot, Walls). Steals: 8 (Jordan 2, Lightfoot
2, Cornette, Curry, Jackson, Walls).

ARIZONA (72)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Wright          29   5-6   6-6   3-8  1  4   16
Jefferson       27   2-4   3-6   0-6  3  3    7
Woods           33  9-11   7-9   4-9  0  2   25
Arenas          29   1-9   0-0   0-4  3  2    2
Gardner         32   4-9   2-2   0-0  3  2   13
Walton          25   2-5   0-0   1-7  3  1    4
Ash              7   0-0   1-2   0-0  0  0    1
Wessel           7   1-3   2-2   1-1  0  2    4
Edgerson        11   0-2   0-2   6-8  0  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-49 21-29 15-43 13 18   72
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.490, FT-.724. 3-Point Goals:
3-11, .273 (Arenas 0-3, Gardner 3-7, Walton 0-1).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4 (Woods 3,
Wright). Turnovers: 20 (Walton 4, Edgerson 3,
Jefferson 3, Wright 3, Arenas 2, Gardner 2, Woods
2, Wessel). Steals: 3 (Arenas, Gardner, Woods).
__________________________________
Butler             28   32  -   60
Arizona            32   40  -   72
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 14,565. Officials: Don
Mcallister, Gary Crozier, C Grismore.
                                                                        

DAVE'S POSTGAME ANALYSIS

Despite the obvious size disadvantage, the Dawgs stayed in the game with defense. We forced Arizona into 20 turnovers, and had 8 steals. Butler's perimeter attack, which was absolutely on fire last week, cooled off quite a bit. Rylan Hainje and LaVall Jordan were a combined 4-for-8, but the rest of the team was 2-for-12. Had a few more of those attempts gone in, we might be reading different headlines this morning. But their inside game was stronger than our outside game, and that was the difference

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Hainje, without question. Rylan was quite sick prior to the game, and was taking intravenous fluids. You couldn't tell though, because he was a warrior. He had a wicked one-handed putback dunk very early in the game, and scored 15 points in the second half to finish with a team-high 18. He also pulled down 6 rebounds. He came out very aggresively in the second half, taking the ball to the hole and refusing to let their front line intimidate him. Considering how he was feeling prior to the game, his effort was phenomenal.

Joel Cornette scored 10 points before fouling out. He had a couple of nasty dunks as well. Jordan had 8 first half points, and 10 for the game. Thomas Jackson struggled from the field, but still finished with 9 points and 8 assists. Brandon Miller also had a rough shooting night en route to 5 points, but dished out 5 assists without a turnover. Freshman Duane Lightfoot only had 2 points, but played his heart out. He spent quite a bit of time guarding Woods when Cornette was in foul trouble.

Coming in, Arizona was 30-0 in the Fiesta Bowl Classic, winning their first round games by an average of 26 points. Butler played them almost dead even for 35 minutes, and certainly has nothing to hang their heads over. A game like this can only make you stronger, and come MCC tourney time, the experience gained here could make a difference. I'm proud of how we played.