Butler finishes regular season with 70-64 loss to Seton Hall
INDIANAPOLIS -- Seton Hall certainly is making a late-season run at an NCAA Tournament berth.
Desi Rodriguez scored 21 points, and Angel Delgado added 20 points and 16 rebounds Saturday, helping the Pirates rally from a 10-point, second-half deficit and upset No. 13 Butler 70-64.
The Pirates (20-10, 10-8 Big East) scored the game's final seven points, taking a 65-64 lead on Khadeen Carrington's basket with 1:24 remaining. Freshman Myles Powell's 3-pointer with 35.3 seconds left stretched the lead to 68-64.
Carrington, who finished with 17 points, iced it with two free throws with 12 seconds to go, extending the Pirates' winning streak to four.
"I think the key was recognizing who their top scorers are and then really locking down on defense down the stretch," Carrington said. "On the offensive end, we just stayed aggressive. Even when we were down 10, I told the guys that this game wasn't over. We ran our offense and got the ball where it needed to be."
Butler (23-7, 12-6) got 19 points from Kelan Martin and 13 from Avery Woodson but had its four-game winning streak snapped. The Bulldogs made only 9 of 29 second-half field goal attempts (31 percent) and were outscored 23-7 during the final 6:36.
Martin's 3-pointer with 7:01 to play extended the Bulldogs' lead to 57-47. But two free throws by Rodriguez with 4:36 remaining and a 3 by Powell at 3:52 tied it at 59. It was tied at 61 with 3:10 left when Butler called a timeout.
"This victory was about getting key stops down the stretch," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. "Obviously, Butler is a tremendous basketball team. Winning here in a building with so much tradition is huge. I think another key is that we had some time to work on our offense this week, and that was better.
"Credit to Myles Powell for hitting a huge shot. It's not easy for a freshman to do things like that in this league, but as I told him, you have to keep firing even when you aren't making a lot of them. Rebounding (35-24) also was huge for us. We have won seven of nine. That says a lot about this team."
Getting 13 points from Woodson and nine from Martin, Butler scored the first half's final seven points to lead 38-35.
"Obviously, this is a disappointing loss on senior day," Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. "We really wanted this one for our players and for our fans. I thought in the last 7 minutes, we settled for things on offense. We couldn't get loose balls, and Delgado is a monster. We left him open at the rim too many times."
Butler senior power forward Andrew Chrabascz made only 3 of 11 field goal attempts against Delgado, scored six points and had only three rebounds.
"We didn't do enough defensively to win the game," Chrabascz said. "They got a lot of offensive rebounds which gave them second-chance opportunities that they converted. We have to learn from this and move on into the Big East Tournament."
BIG PICTURE
Seton Hall: The Pirates came to Butler with a three-game winning streak and hoping to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
Butler: Martin and Woodson continue to play well late in the season as the Bulldogs clinched second place in the Big East behind Villanova, a team beat Butler defeated twice in the regular season.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Using consecutive road victories at Villanova and Xavier as the momentum to climb to No. 13 in the most recent AP poll, Butler likely will drop at least several spots after losing at home to a team it defeated by seven points in January in New Jersey.
INSIDE DAMAGE
With Delgado making 9 of 12 field goal attempts, Seton Hall enjoyed a 34-22 advantage in points scored in the paint and 16-12 on second-chance points.
UP NEXT
Seton Hall: Big East Tournament.
Butler: Big East Tournament.