BUTLER 51, CLEVELAND STATE 46

[BUTLER LOGO]
Official Basketball Box Score
Cleveland State vs BUTLER
02/16/08 2:00 PM at Indianapolis, Ind. (Hinkle Fieldhouse)

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VISITORS: Cleveland State 17-11 (10-6 HL)
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 TANDY, George....... f  0-3    0-0    2-3    0  5  5   3   2  0  1  0  0  17
44 BULLOCK, J'Nathan... f  5-15   1-7    0-1    2  4  6   4  11  1  7  1  0  35
11 JACKSON, Cedric..... g  4-14   2-4   10-11   0  4  4   4  20  5  2  0  4  37
12 WATSON, Breyohn..... g  2-3    1-2    0-0    1  2  3   0   5  0  3  0  0  32
25 BROWN, D'Aundray.... g  2-5    0-0    0-0    5  4  9   3   4  1  0  0  1  38
02 DAVIS, Joe..........    1-4    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   2   2  0  1  0  0  10
05 FRANCIS, Kevin......    0-1    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   2   0  0  0  0  0  14
24 FIELDS, Renard......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   2
30 COLE, Norris........    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   8
42 MOORE, Chris........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   3   2  1  1  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         1  2  3
   Totals..............   15-48   4-14  12-15  11 24 35  23  46  8 15  1  5 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-25 32.0%   2nd Half:  7-23 30.4%   Game: 31.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-6  33.3%   2nd Half:  2-8  25.0%   Game: 28.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-9  77.8%   2nd Half:  5-6  83.3%   Game: 80.0%    1


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HOME TEAM: BUTLER 24-2  (13-2 HL)
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
32 Streicher, Drew..... f  1-5    0-4    0-0    1  1  2   4   2  2  1  1  1  26
54 Howard, Matt........ f  5-9    0-0    7-11   4  4  8   4  17  0  3  0  1  25
01 Betko, Julian....... g  2-5    2-5    0-0    0  3  3   4   6  2  1  0  0  23
04 Graves, A. J........ g  5-9    3-6    2-2    0  4  4   2  15  3  0  0  0  37
10 Green, Mike......... g  2-5    0-1    2-5    1  5  6   1   6  3  3  0  1  35
02 Vanzant, Shawn......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  1  1  0  0   3
03 Hahn, Zach..........    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   9
21 Veasley, Willie.....    1-4    0-0    0-2    0  1  1   1   2  0  2  1  0  14
24 Jukes, Avery........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
34 Campbell, Pete......    1-4    1-4    0-0    0  3  3   1   3  0  0  0  1  27
   TEAM................                         1  3  4
   Totals..............   17-42   6-21  11-20   7 24 31  19  51 11 11  2  4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-19 52.6%   2nd Half:  7-23 30.4%   Game: 40.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-8  37.5%   2nd Half:  3-13 23.1%   Game: 28.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-16 62.5%   2nd Half:  1-4  25.0%   Game: 55.0%    3


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Officials: Lamar Simpson, Chris Beaver, Jeb Hartness
Technical fouls: Cleveland State-None. BUTLER-None.
Attendance: 8279
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Cleveland State...............   25   21  -   46
BUTLER........................   33   18  -   51

Points in the paint-CSU 14,BU 22. Points off turnovers-CSU 12,BU 11.
2nd chance points-CSU 10,BU 4. Fast break points-CSU 4,BU 2.
Bench points-CSU 4,BU 5. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-2 times.
Last FG-CSU 2nd-00:48, BU 2nd-03:09.
Largest lead-CSU by 4 1st-14:21, BU by 11 1st-03:55.

MY POSTGAME ANALYSIS

The Butler Bulldogs clinched a bye to the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament and no worse than a second place HL finish with a 51-46 victory over the Cleveland State Vikings at Hinkle Fieldhouse. CSU held its biggest lead of the game at 9-5 with 14:21 left in the first half. Butler used a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 19-13 lead, and would not trail again in the game. The Bulldogs pushed their advantage to as many as 11 points on three separate occasions, the last of which coming at 31-20 with 1:47 remaining in the opening frame, before CSU closed it to 33-25 at halftime. The Vikings outscored Butler 15-7 to start the second half to tie the score at 40 apiece with 14:32 to go. That's when the Bulldog defense dug in, limiting CSU to just six more points for the remainder of the game. The Vikings' defense was also quite stingy, holding Butler to just one field goal in the final nine minutes. A. J. Graves' driving layup with 3:09 left gave Butler a 50-44 lead. Following an empty possession by each team, CSU's George Tandy missed the front end of a one-and-one. Graves missed a three-pointer at the other end, but Matt Howard came up with a key rebound and was fouled. He split his free throws, giving the Bulldogs a 51-44 lead with just over a minute remaining. CSU's Cedric Jackson's basket pulled the Vikings within five. In a spot where they needed to foul, the Vikings had Jackson, who had four fouls, guarding Mike Green near midcourt. Jackson would not commit his fifth foul, and no teammates came up to help on defense, so Green was content to dribble the clock down. Drew Streicher missed a three-pointer with 0:16 left, but CSU didn't have enough time to score five points, missing a pair of three-point attempts before time expired, giving the Bulldogs a hard-fought 51-46 victory.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Streicher. His stat line won't jump out at you--two points, two rebounds, and two assists--but his defensive effort was tremendous. He was largely responsible for J'Nathan Bullock's 5-of-15 shooting night, holding CSU's leading scorer to 11 points, nearly five under his average. He also found himself guarding Jackson at several points in the game, showing his versatility as a defender.

Howard led the Bulldogs with 17 points and eight rebounds. Graves finished with 15 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Green had six points, six rebounds, and three assists, while Julian Betko added six poitns and three rebounds. Pete Campbell had three points and three rebounds. Willie Veasley finished with two points. CSU was led by Jackson's 20 points, five assists, four rebounds, and four steals.

After the way the first meeting played itself out, you had to figure it would be another defensive struggle, and it certainly was. Butler did shoot 53% in the first half, but managed just 30% after halftime. CSU shot just 31% for the game, failing to eclipse 33% in either half. The second half seemed to grind to a halt at the 14:00 mark offensively. CSU's focus defensively appeared to be to limit the damage done by Green and Campbell, and the Vikings were largely successful in that regard. Once again, timely three-pointers, this time from Betko (to make it 43-40) and Campbell (to make it 48-42), played a huge role in giving the Bulldogs some much-needed breathing room.

Butler plays its final road game of the season when it travels to UIC to face the Flames. Game time is Wednesday, February 20, at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Game photos, courtesy ndfan1993
AP photos, courtesy ESPN.com

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