Field Level Media
Feb 17, 2018
Kelan Martin scored 19 points to lead Butler to a 69-54 victory over Providence on Saturday in Indianapolis.
The Bulldogs (18-10, 8-7 Big East) ended a three-game losing streak by holding to Providence to 15.6 percent (5 of 32) shooting in the second half. Paul Jorgensen came off the bench to score 12 points for Butler, and teammate Tyler Wideman added 10.
Alpha Diallo and Maliek White finished with 11 points each for the Friars (17-10, 8-6). The Friars' Jalen Lindsey had just one point, missing all eight of his field goal attempts. Kyron Cartwright had just three points on 1-for-8 shooting for Providence.
The Bulldogs shot 45.5 percent from the field while Providence finished with 30 percent. Butler hit 14 of 18 free throws.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 14-2 advantage to take a 47-37 lead with a 11:37 left in the second half.
The Friars eventually used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 57-49. Then Wideman's putback dunk ended a more than 4-minute Butler scoring drought with 2:26 to go in the game.
Providence hit 6 of 14 3-pointers to take a 35-33 halftime lead. The Friars shot 46.4 percent from the field while the Bulldogs shot 42.9 percent. Butler shot 4 of 10 from the 3-point arc. Each team had 17 rebounds in the first half.
The Friars led for more than 15 minutes in the half. Providence's largest first-half lead was six while Butler's was just two. There were four ties and four lead changes before intermission.
Butler stayed close by holding an 11-0 edge in points off turnovers in the opening half.
Butler did not hit a field goal for the final 2:40 of the first half.
Sean McDermott made his first start since November, replacing Jorgensen in the starting lineup for the Bulldogs.
--Field Level Media