Butler Men fall on the road to NW Tech

Story by Wyatt Ebersole

The hot streak the Butler Men had been riding over the past six games was broken on Wednesday night when their win streak was snapped by the Mavericks of Northwest Kansas Tech. The loss for the Grizzlies is a brutal one, because had they won, they would've moved into a tie for first place in the Jayhawk Conference with Coffeyville, due to the Red Ravens defeating former first place Dodge City on Wednesday night. The loss for the Grizzlies drops them to 16-5 overall and 10-5 in conference play. The loss means that the Grizzlies are still tied for second place in the conference, now with Dodge City, and they both trail first place Coffeyville by just 0.5 games. The win for NW Tech is their first since December 3rd and snaps an 8-game losing streak for the Mavs. 

The game started out well for the Grizzlies as they nailed their first three shots of the night, all from three-point range, to jump out to an early 9-5 lead on the Mavericks. The Grizzlies then fell incredibly cold and went over seven minutes without scoring, but good defense by the Grizzlies kept the game close and the Mavericks only led 13-9 with 10:09 left to play in the half. Tahjae Hill broke the scoring drought at this mark with a layup and then he made two free throws after a technical foul against the Mavericks and the game was tied at 13. The Mavericks would proceed to force another Butler scoring drought that allowed the Mavs to go on a 12-3 run that put them 25-16 with under five to play. The Mavs would grow their lead to double digits at the 2:25 mark when they took a 31-20 lead and things were looking woeful for the Grizzlies. The Butler Men weren't going anywhere, and NW Tech didn't score the rest of the half and the Grizzlies finally found some offensive rhythm, going on a 10-0 run to end the half meaning the Grizzlies trailed by just one heading into the locker room. 

The Grizzlies rhythm was still in sync out of the break and the 10-0 run had blossomed into a 24-2 run for Butler and the Grizzlies were up 44-33 with 14:00 left and now NW Tech seemed to be on the ropes. The Mavs were able to keep the game close, but the game was still firmly in the Grizzlies control, not allowing the Mavericks to get within four for over 10 minutes. However, with just over four minutes left to play, the Mavericks came charging back, going on a 15-2 run late, and now the Grizzlies were back on the fence, down by six with under 90 seconds to play. The Grizzlies never got back within one score the rest of the game and NW Tech stunned the Grizzlies 76-67.

The long week of action for the Butler Men will continue Saturday at home against Pratt at 4PM where the Grizzlies will play their third game in five days.

NOTES: This is the first loss any Butler sports program has suffered to NW Tech…The Grizzlies had 25 fouls called on them in this game, the most in any game this season…This was the worst three-point shooting night for the Grizzlies over the last six games…The Grizzlies had just two assists in the entire game, their worst mark of the season