The Butler Grizzlies could have overlooked the Labette Cardinals, their first round opponent in the Region VI tournament, in action Tuesday night at the Power Plant.
Instead, the Jayhawk West champion Grizzlies pushed the Cardinals up and down both ends of the court on the way to a 105-69 victory in the final home game for the five sophomores.
“I love playing here,” said sophomore Dushawn Brooks, one of five Butler players who finished their time at the Power Plant. “We just focus about the task at hand instead of focusing on the future and it works.
“It was fun playing at home, but now we’ve got to go to Wichita (for the rest of the regional tournament) and get the job done there.”
Brooks was one of six Butler players to score in double figures as the Grizzlies (26-5) shot 36-of-62 from the floor (10-of-20 from three-point range) and scored 23 points off turnovers and 14 second chance points.
Caleb Walker led Butler in scoring with 17 points, posts Josh Gibbs and Troy Pierce added 15 apiece, both Brooks and point guard Anthony Cousin scored 14, and Brandon Hilyard had 10 in the victory. Ten of the 11 Grizzlies scored in the victory.
Butler coach Michael Bargen said he was worried about the psyche of the Grizzlies after their loss last Saturday at Seward.
“They took that one pretty hard, but maybe that helped (for Tuesday night’s game),” Bargen said. “They played really hard. We shared the ball and shot very well, which was something we didn’t do very well at Seward.”
Garland McArthur led Labette (9-22) with 28 points, while Larry Barber added 16 in the loss.
The two teams started out slowly with Butler missing its first five shots; but after making their first shot, the Grizzlies opened up their press to force a number of Labette turnovers.
Butler went on a 15-point run to turn a one-point lead to 22-6 and never stopped its hot shooting, pushing the lead to as much as 30 points and holding a 59-32 cushion at halftime. The Grizzlies were 19-of-32 from the field in the first half with Cousin scoring 12, while Brooks and Walker had 10 before intermission.
The second half was pretty much the same as Butler continued to extend the lead to as much as 41 points, reaching the 100-point mark with more than five minutes remaining in the game.
The Grizzlies will face Cloud County in the next round. Butler won both games in the regular season, including a 25-point win last week at the Power Plant.
“It was pretty clear in both of the earlier games that they wanted the ball out of Anthony’s and Caleb’s hands,” Bargen said. “We’re going to have to get other guys to step up and make plays.
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The Butler Grizzlies could have overlooked the Labette Cardinals, their first round opponent in the Region VI tournament, in action Tuesday night at the Power Plant.
Instead, the Jayhawk West champion Grizzlies pushed the Cardinals up and down both ends of the court on the way to a 105-69 victory in the final home game for the five sophomores.
“I love playing here,” said sophomore Dushawn Brooks, one of five Butler players who finished their time at the Power Plant. “We just focus about the task at hand instead of focusing on the future and it works.
“It was fun playing at home, but now we’ve got to go to Wichita (for the rest of the regional tournament) and get the job done there.”
Brooks was one of six Butler players to score in double figures as the Grizzlies (26-5) shot 36-of-62 from the floor (10-of-20 from three-point range) and scored 23 points off turnovers and 14 second chance points.
Caleb Walker led Butler in scoring with 17 points, posts Josh Gibbs and Troy Pierce added 15 apiece, both Brooks and point guard Anthony Cousin scored 14, and Brandon Hilyard had 10 in the victory. Ten of the 11 Grizzlies scored in the victory.
Butler coach Michael Bargen said he was worried about the psyche of the Grizzlies after their loss last Saturday at Seward.
“They took that one pretty hard, but maybe that helped (for Tuesday night’s game),” Bargen said. “They played really hard. We shared the ball and shot very well, which was something we didn’t do very well at Seward.”
Garland McArthur led Labette (9-22) with 28 points, while Larry Barber added 16 in the loss.
The two teams started out slowly with Butler missing its first five shots; but after making their first shot, the Grizzlies opened up their press to force a number of Labette turnovers.
Butler went on a 15-point run to turn a one-point lead to 22-6 and never stopped its hot shooting, pushing the lead to as much as 30 points and holding a 59-32 cushion at halftime. The Grizzlies were 19-of-32 from the field in the first half with Cousin scoring 12, while Brooks and Walker had 10 before intermission.
The second half was pretty much the same as Butler continued to extend the lead to as much as 41 points, reaching the 100-point mark with more than five minutes remaining in the game.
The Grizzlies will face Cloud County in the next round. Butler won both games in the regular season, including a 25-point win last week at the Power Plant.
“It was pretty clear in both of the earlier games that they wanted the ball out of Anthony’s and Caleb’s hands,” Bargen said. “We’re going to have to get other guys to step up and make plays.
