The Butler Men’s Club Basketball team ended a strong weekend with a second place finish in the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville tournament. On Saturday, October 20th the team won all three of its pool play games. First defeating Miami (OH) by forfeit then pulling out a hard nosed contest against Truman College. Butler faced a 15 point deficit before making a second half surge and winning with a put back by Grant Rodgers in the final seconds. Next, the Bulldogs beat Indiana University’s B team, leading by as much as 25 in the contest.
On Sunday, Butler earned a first round bye, and the second overall seed, because of their 3-0 finish in pool play. In the first single elimination match up the Bulldogs faced the Indiana University A team. Butler won the contest by generating a sizable lead from the tip, thanks to the hot shooting of Alex Prittie, and never relinquished it. Next was Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, the reigning national champions. This hard fought contest finished with Butler winning by 20, setting up a meeting in the championship with the University of Missouri. In the “ship” the Bulldogs jumped out to 10 point lead, but were unable to hold on late. The runner-up finish is Butler’s second in the past year in major tournaments.
Next up for the Bulldogs is a home tournament on Saturday, November 10th. The tournament will be played at the HRC between the Bulldogs, Indiana University 1, Indiana University 2, SIU-Carbondale, SIU-Edwardsville, and Ivy Tech-Lafayette.
