Butler was able to keep a determined Yale team at arm's length throughout a 71-61 win Tuesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Manny Bates led the Bulldogs with 22 points and seven rebounds.

With the win, Butler improves to 7-3; Yale is now 8-2.
 
KEY STAT: Simas Lukosius's 14 points included four three-pointers, including back-to-back makes that stretched the lead to 12 (65-53) with 2:10 remaining.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Butler shot 50 percent from both the field and from behind the arc; the Bulldogs made seven of 14 three-point attempts. Lukosius went 4-for-5.
• Bates shot 9-for-15 from the field.
• Eric Hunter Jr. posted 11 points to go along with four assists and four steals.
• Jayden Taylor went 7-for-7 from the free throw line on his way to 14 points.
• Butler had 11 steals.
• EJ Jarvis and Bez Mbeng led Yale with 14 points apiece.  

 
HOW IT TRANSPIRED:

• Butler never trailed and the team's largest lead was 15 midway through first half at 22-7 following a 16-2 run by the Bulldogs.
• While the lead was around 10 for much of the remainder of the contest, Yale did pull within five at 41-36 with 16:40 remaining. A 13-5 run pushed the lead back to 13 six minutes later.

 
OF NOTE:

• Yale entered the game ranked No. 36 nationally in the NCAA's NET metric; the team heads to Kentucky Saturday for their next contest.
• Butler's defense limited Yale to 61 points and 42-percent shooting. Yale entered the game averaging 80.2 points per game and shooting 49.8 percent from the field, which is 17^th nationally.
• Butler is now 5-0 against Yale in the all-time series. The teams first met in 1921 and had not met since 1970.
• Butler is 70-2 over its last 72 non-conference home games.
• Through 10 games, Butler has shot 50 percent or better from the field seven times; the Bulldogs hit the 50-percent mark six times all of last season (31 games). In a similar fashion, Butler already has six games this season shooting 40 percent or better from three-point range, which was only done four times during the 2021-22 season.
• Butler is 7-0 this season when leading at halftime. 
   

 
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule Saturday, making the trip West for a match-up at California. Tip is set for 5 p.m. (Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific) and the contest will air on the Pac-12 Networks.