2nd Half Comeback Comes Up Short As Dawgs Stampeded By Bison At Hinkle
Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS — Remember the name Jacari White. He is an athletic sharpshooter for North Dakota State who introduced himself to the country on Tuesday night in front of Butler’s own fans inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
He chose the perfect night to be near perfect as he helped the Butler Bulldogs dig a hole they could not climb out of by game’s end, as the North Dakota State Bison out-maneuvered the Dawgs in the end to a 71-68 victory.
“Extremely round of our guys,” said NDSU head coach David Richman. “For me, the amount of pride I have in their victory is because of my respect for Butler basketball. We try to emulate Butler basketball. Play the game the right way, and I feel like we did those things tonight.”
It was another slow start shooting for the Bulldogs. It was so slow, in fact, that it lasted the whole first half. Butler could not buy a basket from anywhere on the court. It was a fact personified by a missed two-handed dunk at one point by Andre Screen. Patrick McCaffery was cold only mustering four points by halftime, and Butler shot a season-low 25% from the field.
All the while, the Bison, quite literally, could not miss. The aforementioned Jacari White hit three 3-pointers in a row to start the game for NDSU. He then kept hitting….. and hitting… and hitting again. White, along with some help from his fellow sharpshooter Jackson Moni, combined for eight made 3-point shots giving NDSU a 47-23 halftime lead. Oh, and White had 24 first-half points, which outscored the entire Butler roster.
“That first half by that kid (White) is the best half of basketball I’ve ever seen,” said Butler head coach Thad Matta. “It affected our offense. We didn’t have our pace, our grit, to counter those makes. I don’t know if we’ll ever see a performance like that again.”
It certainly couldn’t get any worse for the Bulldogs. In fact, it actually got better as the second half began. NDSU was still shooting well, but Butler came out extremely aggressive on both ends of the floor. By the time there were still 13 minutes to play, Butler had already drawn the needed seven fouls to get into the bonus.
It was the old Butler adage of free throw shooting that finally got the Butler scoring engine rolling. The Butler would hit twelve free throws throughout the half, which led to jumpers starting to fall from the field, which led to 3-pointers finally falling.
Butler stormed back over a ten-minute period in which they went on a 17-2 run led by Jahmyl Telfort and Pierre Brooks. The Dawgs regained the lead and then some off of beautiful-looking 3-point shots from Brooks and McCaffery. With three minutes to play, the Dawgs had a 67-62 lead and momentum.
Like a light switch, it flipped off.
Over that last three minutes, Butler went 0-for-6 from the field and hit just one free throw. The Bison seized the opening given to them by closing on a 9-1 swing and holding on to the win. White finished with 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Moni added 25 points on 10-of-23 shooting.
For Butler, valiant comeback withstanding, Brooks led the way with 26 points and Telfort had 23 points. A bit of irony considering the season: the Dawgs turned the ball over just four times for the whole game. That’s a new season low.
“We didn’t finish,” Matta said. “We could never catch our breath. We were always on our heels. We quit defending there down the stretch. That just can’t happen.”
This is the second ‘bad loss’ for the Bulldogs of their non-conference slate. It is also their second in a row after their beating at the hands of Houston this past weekend. The loss certainly will have the Bulldogs limping into their final non-conference game of the season on Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse when they face #20 Wisconsin in the Indy Classic.
