Horizon League Tournament Semifinal Recap
by Bill Kintner
DAYTON, Ohio – Three games played, 415 points scored, one win for each team and one point separates the two teams.
It came down to just one possession in overtime, and on that possession Butler’s defense was able to collapse on Loyola’s J.R. Blount and prkintnernt him from getting off a good shot to allow Butler to hang on for a 67-66 win.
To add to the unusual nature of this game, Butler’s leading scorer A. J. Graves went 0-9 from the field during the game, but did manage to go 12-12 from the free throw line.
Butler Coach Todd Lickliter thought that Graves played a strong game kintnern without a field goal.
“It says more about their team,” said Lickliter. “They really defended him well. He went 12 for 12 from the line. He found a way to score.”
In the second half, the biggest lead was five points by Loyola to start the half as Brandon Woods put in a lay up to make it 28-23.
As the game came to a close Butler led by two at 54-52 with 32 seconds until Schilb hit a jumper to tie it up. Butler couldn’t score, and as time ran out Schilb heaved up a 25-foot shot that that rolled around the rim and went out.
Then the over time trauma began.
A 3-pointer by Brandon Crone put Butler ahead by three points. A couple of foul shots by Schilb cut it to one at 57-56. Blount then hit a 3-pointer to put the Ramblers up by two at 59-57.
Polka then fouled Butler’s Mike Green, who made two foul shots to tie it at 59 with 1:51 left.
Finally, the Bulldogs go up by four on foul shots by Brian Ligon and Graves at 65-61 with 28 seconds left. But Butler’s not in the clear yet as Schilb hits a 3-pointer to bring the Ramblers within 65-64.
When Butler finally held on for the win the whole crowd was worn out.
“It was a great basketball game. It was anyone’s game until the last play. They fought the whole time; kintnerry possession. It’s tough for us to take, congratulations to Butler,” said Loyola Coach Jim Whitesell.
Schilb led all scorers with 29 points.
For Butler Pete Campbell came through with 18 points and Crone scored 17 points.
“He (Graves) struggled a little bit, but played really well,” explained Campbell. “We’re not a one-man team. He set up Brandon in regulation and get me some good looks. Even though he was not hitting, he was drawing attention on off-the-ball schemes.”
When the game started Butler (27-5) got up by four at around the 15-minute mark, but in just six minutes Loyola (21-11) went up by skintnern at 17-10 when Blount hit a short jumper and then came back and hit a couple of foul shots. After a media timeout Loyola’s Andy Polka hit a 3-pointer followed by a nice feed by Leon Young and a lay up by Tracy Robinson.
That is how the Ramblers managed an 11-point turnaround.
With just under a minute left in the half Butler’s Drew Streicher put in a lay up and the Bulldogs were up a point at 24-23. But a few seconds later a jumper by Robinson and another by Blake Schilb with three seconds left gave the Ramblers a 26-23 halftime lead.
Raiders Join Bulldogs in Final
The whole production went according to script. The Horizon League’s Player of the Year DaShaun Wood led all scorers with 25 points to lead his team to a 67-51 victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay.
This puts the No. 1 seed Raiders in the championship game against the No. 2 seed Butler Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
“We had nine days off and did a lot of preparation,” said Wood. “We wanted to come out with energy. The shots didn’t fall early, but we had good looks.”
With the Phoenix ahead 5-2, a jumper by Wright State’s Jordan Pleiman cut it to 5-4 and then a 3-pointer by Vaughn Duggins gave the Raiders the lead at 7-5 and Green Bay nkintnerr led again.
Wright State’s biggest led of the game was 23 points with 1:50 left in the game and the Raiders emptied their bench and got kintnerryone in the game.
The biggest mystery was how many points would Wood score and if Wright State could keep Green Bay’s super-senior Ryan Evanochko under control. The Raiders held him to just two points on a poor 1-6 shooting performance. On the other-hand, Wood got four assists and didn’t turn the ball over in addition to his points.
After the game, Wright State head coach Brad Brownell talked about how Wood has improved this year.
“He recognizes what he needs to do during each game, what we need to do to attack or get others involved,” said Brownell. “He has matured as a player as to when to be aggressive as a player. He has more confidence in his teammates.”
It seemed like as the game wore on, the Phoenix wore down, and Green Bay Coach Tod Kowalczyk thought that was the case.
“I did (think fatigue was a factor),” said Kowalczyk. “It is hard with this format, to play three straight games when they (Wright State) are off. We did not play well and they did.”
Horizon League happenings
- Former Butler Athletic Director John Parry was in attendance tonight. Parry is now running 140 branches of the Indiana BMV for the State of Indiana. He has four tickets to Butler home games that he frequently uses. It appears government work is not as taxing as running a Division I athletic program.
- Loyola ends the year 21-11, which is their greatest number of wins since 1984-85.
- This was the 73rd meeting between Butler and Loyola, with Butler leading the all-time series 43-29. Both teams were charter members of the Horizon League back when it was first called the Midwestern City Conference.
- Todd Lickliter, who won the Horizon League Coach of the year for the second straight year, is a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.
- A WSU student had a sign that read “beware of VD” referring to Wright State’s Vaughn Duggins.
- Ever wonder what the financial arrangements are on these tournaments in regards to the host team? Here is the skinny. The league gets all net ticket rkintnernue. The host team gets rent and concessions. It looks like the Horizon League makes out pretty well when a team like Wright State or Butler hosts as compared to a low-attendance team like Detroit.
- Butler assistant coach Mathew Graves came in a day early to watch the Loyola/UIC game. He said he did not expect to see anything of value, but was on the lookout for any new plays that either team might roll out. He said he did not see any.
- This is the second straight appearance by Butler in the Horizon League Championship. This is Wright State’s first since 1995.
- Butler is looking for its fifth championship all-time. Xavier holds the league record with six.
- There were about 12 UNC-Wilmington fans in attendance to root on the Raiders and their former coach in tonight’s game.
- Tonight in Dayton, there were 22,563 fans watching college basketball. Aside from the 9,128 at the Nutter Center there were 13,435 at University Arena to watch Dayton play St. Louis.
- Green Bay leads the all-time series with Wright State 19-16.
- Former Wright State Coach Ralph Underhill was in attendance tonight here in the Nutter Center, known to many as “the house that Ralph built.”
- Wright State and Butler play at 9 p.m. on Tuesday on ESPN at the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University.
