INDAINAPOLIS – It was twenty minutes after the game and Wright State coach Brad Brownell was still seething as he took questions about his team’s 62-57 loss to the 22nd ranked team in the latest AP Poll.
Wright State had scored 22 field goals to Butler’s 17 field goals, out-shot Butler from beyond the arc by making eight three-pointers to four for Butler and committed just eight turnovers to Butler’s 10 turnovers.
The Raiders held all five of Butler’s starters to under 50 percent shooting.
The only wrinkle in Wright State’s plan to upset Butler on their home court was that Butler went 24-31 from the free throw line and Wright State was just 5-8. Butler’s Matt Howard was an outstanding 14-15 from the free throw line and he led all scorers with 28 points.
The free throws were the difference in this game. But the Raiders fought until the end to catch Butler and the Bulldogs worked very hard to keep the Raiders at bay. There was no quit in either team.
With 15 seconds left Wright State’s Todd Brown got the ball with a chance to tie the game at 59. He faked, got his defender in the air, then got off a shot, but it never even found iron and Butler held on to make it to the final championship game.
It is all Wright State could ask for: their best player on the court had the ball with a chance to tie the game, but he didn’t make the shot.
The Butler crowd roared as Browns shot missed its mark.
When asked about the free throw differential between the teams Brownell simply said he would have to check the tape to take a look at all the fouls called on his team. He certainly was not eager to talk about it or publically blame it for his team’s loss. He did point out how his team kept fighting until the end.
“I am unbelievably proud of my team, not only in this game, but all season,” he said. “Several times Butler jumped out on us and had a chance to put us away, but we bounced back. There in the last minute we had every chance to win the game and a couple of things went against us and Butler won.”
One of the things that went against the Raiders was the fifth foul called on Cory Cooperwood when he was called for a foul when he bumped Gordon Hayward going for a ball with 41 seconds left.
“That is exactly what we thought it would be. They are playing great basketball. They are extremely well coached. They are playing very confidently,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens.
For Butler, they held Brown to just eight points on 4-13 shooting. Ronald Nored was on him most of the night, but they switched up some and Shelvin Mack and Willie Veasley guarded him tight, too.
With Butler up 50-42 Mack hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up by 11 points, and that was the last field goal Butler would score in the game. From that point on it was all free throws for Butler (26-4). They went 9-12 to close out the game.
Wright State scratched and clawed until they got within two with at 58-56 with 1:14 left. Butler then sank five of six free throws to put the game away.
In the first half Wright State (20-13) scored the first basket on a jumper by Brown. The plan by Wright State was to not to get in a hole, to not to let Butler get a comfortable lead. The Raiders wanted to sew some seeds of doubt in the minds of Butler’s players that Butler could dominate the Raiders they way they did the last two games.
That plan started to fall apart as Butler scored the next seven points largely behind the play of Matt Howard. Not only did he score points, but he got several key rebounds.
Butler was able to get the crowd in the game and they were loud. It made for a tough atmosphere for the Raiders.
After the first media timeout two of Butler’s bench players came in and gave the Bulldogs a quick lift. Zach Hahn hit a 3-pointer and Garrett Butcher took a feed from Gordon Haywood and hit a jumper to put Butler up 12-3 at the 14:41 mark.
After that the Raiders started to chip away at Butler’s lead until at the 7:43 mark, when Troy Tabler hit a 3-pointer to cap off a 16-3 run and give the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 19-16.
But Butler, as they did all game, answered Wright State’s little run and regained the lead. They went into halftime up by four at 32-28.
Corey Cooperwood led Wright State with 11 points going 5-6 from the field in just 17 minutes of play.
For Butler it was just another night of doing what they do best: winning.
