Junior guard Kamar Baldwin scored a season-high 28 points in Butler's wire-to-wire 84-69 victory over Creighton in Big East action Saturday in Indianapolis.
Baldwin scored 18 in the first half, but had to leave late after getting a hand to the face on a foul. He added seven assists, five rebounds and two steals and made 11 of 18 shots from the field.
Joey Brunk added 13 in his first start for the Bulldogs (10-5, 1-1). Nate Fowler added 11 points, hitting 3 of 7 3-point shots. Sean McDermott added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Martin Krampelj led the Bluejays (10-5, 1-1) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Mitch Ballock added 13 and Davion Mintz 10. Ty-Shon Alexander, who was averaging a team-high 17.3 points, was held to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.
Butler had 25 points off 15 Creighton turnovers. The Bulldogs had only nine turnovers.
Butler shot 50.8 percent and sank 11 of 30 attempts from the 3-point line. Creighton shot 45.1 percent from the field and was 7 of 17 from deep. The Bluejays hit 16 of 24 from the free throw line.
The Bluejays started the second half with an 11-0 run, including two treys by Ballock, to cut the Bulldogs' 19-point halftime lead to 48-40.
Butler responded with a 9-0 run to rebuild the lead to 57-40.
Butler shot 58.1 percent in the first half to lead 48-29 at halftime. It was just the second time the Bluejays were held to under 30 points in the first half this year.
The Bulldogs used an 11-0 run, which included two 3-pointers by Fowler, to take a 19-7 lead. Fowler had previously missed his first 10 3-point attempts this season, including one early Saturday. Samson Froling finally ended the scoring drought for the Bluejays with a layup.
Butler led by as many as 17 three times in the first half before expanding it to 48-29 on two free throws by Baldwin with 44 seconds left.
--Field Level Media
Creighton | Butler | |
Martin Krampelj 16 | Scoring | Kamar Baldwin 28 |
Marcus Zegarowski 5 | Assists | Kamar Baldwin 7 |
Martin Krampelj 8 | Rebounds | Sean McDermott 8 |
Davion Mintz 6 | Free Throws Made | Joey Brunk 5 |
Ty-Shon Alexander 2 | Steals | Henry Baddley 2 |
Samson Froling 1 | Blocks | Henry Baddley 1 |