ORLANDO, FLA. -- Kellen Dunham set a new tournament scoring record and Khyle Marshall tied the old tournament mark to lead Butler to a 76-69 victory over Washington State in the first round of the Old Spice Classic on Thanksgiving Day. The victory advances Butler to a second-round game with No. 5 Oklahoma State on Friday (Nov. 29).
Dunham scored a career-high 32 points to break the previous Old Spice record of 30 points, held by three players including former Kansas State star Michael Beasley. He scored 24 points after intermission, including a three-point field goal with two minutes remaining to give Butler the lead for good, 68-67. The 6-6 guard scored 11 of Butler's final 14 points in the win.
"I knew the clock was coming down and I needed to get a shot up before it expired," said Dunham of his go-ahead shot. "I just told myself to take the shot aggressively."
Marshall was just as impressive with a career-high 30 points. He hit 12 of 18 shots in the game, including seven of eight in the second half. The contest at HP Field House at the ESPN Wild World of Sports Complex was his first collegiate game in his home state of Florida.
"Once a couple go down, you start to get into a rhythm, and as I got the ball in the middle of the zone, I was just in attack mode," said Marshall of his career-best performance.
The Bulldogs (5-0), who trailed by as many as five points in the game, needed the offensive lift of Dunham and Marshall plus some clutch performances at the defensive end. Junior Kameron Woods came up with a steal and a break-away dunk to give Butler a 70-67 advantage, and Dunham and Woods each had defensive rebounds that led to Butler scores in the final two minutes.
Woods finished as the leading rebounder in the game with ten, his third double-figures rebounding performance this season.
"As it got close down the stretch, we had Kellen and Khyle make play after play after play on the offensive end of the floor," said Butler head coach Brandon Miller. "We were struggling to make stops late in the second half, but we made some big stops with about two minutes to go."
Butler, fueled by Marshall's strong start in the game, edged out to a 30-26 halftime lead. Marshall (left) scored 14 points on five of 10 shooting from the field and four of four from the free throw line. But guard DaVonte Lacy shot Washington State (2-3) into the lead with a hot hand in the second half.
Lacy scored 20 of his team-high 26 points in the final 20 minutes. He hit four of four shots from beyond the three-point arc after intermission. Lacy wound up hitting seven of 12 shots from the floor, including four of eight from three-point range, and all eight of his free throw attempts.
Washington State wound up shooting 50% (25-50) for the game, and the Cougars out-rebounded Butler, 33-27. But the Bulldogs committed just six turnovers in the game and finished with a 21-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Butler will face Oklahoma State at 1:30 p.m. (ET) and the game will be televised on ESPN. It will be the first Top 10-ranked team that the Bulldogs have faced since last January, when Butler defeated No. 8 Gonzaga, 64-63. Oklahoma State advanced to the second round of the Old Spice Classic with a 97-87 victory over Purdue.
