USA Today Sports
For the fourth time in five games, the men's basketball team registered another loss with a blowout at the hands of Butler 77-57 at Hinkle Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon.
With this loss the Pirates fall to 13-6 on the season, 3-4 in Big East play, and ultimately sealing their fate for a drop out of the Top 25 rankings.
Early in the game Butler asserted dominance against the Pirates, starting 5-from-5 from the field and gaining an 18-6 lead. Sophomore Andrew Chrabascz, scored 15 of his 16 points in the first half, going 6 of 7 from the field to help push Butlers lead. As the half went on, the shooting for both teams evened out and the first half came to a close with an 8-3 Pirate run and a four-point lead for Butler, 32-28.
Senior Brandon Mobley led the Pirates in scoring with 15 points on the afternoon. Mobley helped spark a Pirate comeback with a pair of crucial three pointers, the second with 15:39 to go giving the Hall a 37-34 lead. Freshman Desi Rodriguez and Junior Sterling Gibbs added 11 and 10 points respectively to the Pirates total.
After gaining the lead for the first time off the Mobley three, the Pirates collapse was underway.
Butler jumped on top of a team working with only one timeout for the remainder of the game and launched a 25-3 scoring run.
Juniors Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones added 15 and 12 points respectively for the Bulldogs. Dunham and Jones scored 44 points combined in Butlers win over the Pirates on Jan. 13.
The Pirates struggled from the field after shooting 43 percent in the first half, they finished the game shooting only 38 percent. Shooting 9-for-16 from the charity stripe and connecting on only 4 of 22 three pointers.
Butler outplayed the Hall when it came to basketball fundamentals. The Bulldogs held the advantage on the boards with a 47-39 count, and registering 17 assists to the Pirates five.
By the end of the game Butler held the advantage in nearly every statistical category. The Pirates only advantage came at the line where they connected on 56 percent of their shots against the Bulldogs 52 shooting percentage.
Freshman star Isaiah Whitehead missed his eighth consecutive game for the Pirates.
The men's basketball team will look to regain their composure with another road game, this time against Marquette on Wednesday, Jan. 28. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. ?
