No. 16 Saint Louis 67, Butler 56: Dwayne Evans collected 24 points and 11 rebounds as the top-seeded Billikens won for the 14th time in 15 games to advance to the Atlantic 10 championship game at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cody Ellis added 13 points off the bench for Saint Louis (26-6), which also defeated Butler twice in the regular season and will play Virginia Commonwealth in Sunday's conference title game.
Rotnei Clarke scored 16 points to lead the Bulldogs (26-8), who had a four-game winning streak snapped but are still likely to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.
Butler led by as many as seven in the first half, going up 24-17 on Kameron Woods' jumper with 5:43 left in the period, but the Billikens reeled off a 10-1 run to end the half and took a 27-25 advantage into the break.
The Saint Louis lead was 42-41 with 11:24 left when Mike McCall Jr.'s three-point play set off an 8-0 spurt, and Butler didn't get closer than seven the rest of the way.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Evans has scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games. … Evans was 7-for-10 shooting after going 8-for-9 in a first-round win over Charlotte. … The Bulldogs were 5-for-18 from 3-point range and committed 20 turnovers.
Butler | Saint Louis | |
Rotnei Clarke 16 | Scoring | Dwayne Evans 24 |
Andrew Smith 2 | Assists | Kwamain Mitchell 5 |
Roosevelt Jones 8 | Rebounds | Dwayne Evans 11 |
Kellen Dunham 3 | Free Throws Made | Dwayne Evans 9 |
Roosevelt Jones 2 | Steals | Kwamain Mitchell 5 |
Rotnei Clarke 1 | Blocks | N/A |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Butler | 56 | 38.9 | 5-18 | 9-13 | 9 | 38 | 3 | 6 | 20 |
Saint Louis | 67 | 44.4 | 7-18 | 20-31 | 9 | 29 | 0 | 14 | 13 |