Butler 70, Chattanooga 48: Kellen Dunham scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half as the Bulldogs pulled away from the visiting Mocs.
Alex Barlow added 11 points while Kameron Woods posted 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for Butler, which shot 41.5 percent from the floor after setting a school record with a 71.9-percent effort its season-opening win against Maine. Andrew Chrabascz contributed nine points and Roosevelt Jones finished with eight points and seven assists for the Bulldogs (2-0).
Casey Jones scored all of his team-high 14 points in the final 12 minutes for Chattanooga. Eric Robertson made his first four 3-point attempts before finishing 4-for-5 and scored 12 points off the bench for the Mocs (1-2), who were outrebounded 49-21 in a one-sided loss Sunday against No. 4 Wisconsin but only 38-31 against the Bulldogs.
Butler struggled after Chattanooga switched to a zone defense in the first half and went 9:08 without a field goal, turning a 9-3 lead into a 14-10 deficit. Butler found its rhythm in time to move ahead 25-22 at the half, but still shot 34.8 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes – the same as Chattanooga.
The Bulldogs went ahead by double digits on Tyler Wideman’s layup with 12:36 left. Jones, the top returning scorer for Chattanooga this season, scored his first points on a dunk about a minute later and added a free throw to cut the deficit to seven, but that was as close as the Mocs would get as the Bulldogs came back with a 9-0 run to go up by 16 with 6:53 on the clock.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Woods averaged nine rebounds per game last season to lead the Big East Conference. … Butler shot 21-for-34 from the free-throw line and Chattanooga finished 10-of-16. ... Dunham spent part of last summer touring the Philippines with Athletes In Action.
Chattanooga | Butler | |
Casey Jones 14 | Scoring | Kellen Dunham 26 |
Ronrico White 4 | Assists | Roosevelt Jones 7 |
Justin Tuoyo 6 | Rebounds | Kameron Woods 16 |
Casey Jones 8 | Free Throws Made | Kellen Dunham 10 |
Duke Ethridge 1 | Steals | Alex Barlow 2 |
Justin Tuoyo 3 | Blocks | Kameron Woods 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Chattanooga | 48 | 34.0 | 6-20 | 10-16 | 9 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 19 |
Butler | 70 | 41.5 | 5-13 | 21-34 | 11 | 33 | 1 | 7 | 11 |