Box Score Butler hit key free throws down the stretch to secure an 85-78 win over visiting Seton Hall Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Kellen Dunham led the Bulldogs with 22 and fellow senior Roosevelt Jones added 20. With the win, Butler improves to 20-9 and 9-8 in BIG EAST play. Seton Hall, which entered the game having won eight of nine, is now 21-8 (11-6).
Butler made eight of 10 free throws in the last 1:36 of the contest in addition to a Jones's runner in the lane to take a 75-73 lead and turn it into the final margin. Butler scored the first two points of the second half to take a 17-point lead at 45-28, but Seton Hall chipped away at the lead with a 12-0 run to get it to 45-40 with 13:42 to play. The Bulldogs would not relinquish the lead as they were able to withstand 22 second-half points from the Pirates' Isaiah Whitehead.
Butler shot 7-of-12 from three-point range in the first half and got 16 points from Dunham to take a 43-28 lead into the locker rooms. Jones had 16 points in the second half to secure the key BIG EAST win for the Bulldogs.
"Players win games," said Butler coach Chris Holtmann. "I wouldn't want the ball in anyone's hands other than these two guys (Dunham and Jones). Rose has won a lot of games at the free throw line for us this year. He has big time heart. They both do. Our seniors carried us in the is one."
Butler shot 51 percent for the game and made 25 of its 32 free throws. Kelan Martin added 13 points and nine rebounds. Andrew Chrabascz had all nine of his points in the second half, as Butler exploited a mismatch and isolated Chrabascz midway through the second half. Austin Etherington added eight points off the bench. Tyler Wideman had six points, six rebounds and four blocks.
Seton Hall out-rebounded Butler by a slim 33-30 margin. Khadeen Carrington had 18 to join Whitehead's stellar performance.
Butler secures its 21st 20-win season, including its tenth in the last 11 seasons. Butler scored at least 80 points for the 14th time this season and for the sixth time in its last eight games. The Bulldogs have won all six of those contests.
Butler returns to action Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. tip at Hinkle Fieldhouse against Marquette. It will be Senior Day for Jones, Dunham, Etherington and Jordan Gathers. They will be recognized in a postgame ceremony. The game is sold out and will air on FOX Sports Network affiliates throughout the country, including FOX Sports Midwest/Indiana.
