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No. 22 Butler hangs on to beat DePaul

Feb 8, 2015 - 12:28 AM Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Kellen Dunham scored 24 points to help No. 22 Butler hold off DePaul 83-73 on Saturday.

Dunham was 4-of-9 from 3-point range, and the Bulldogs (18-6, 8-3 Big East) were 8-of-14 as a team.

Roosevelt Jones chipped in 20 points and Andrew Chrabascz added 16.

DePaul (12-13, 6-6) did not shoot as effectively as usual, going 9-of-24 from long range. Jamee Crockett led the Blue Demons with 14 points before fouling out, and Myke Henry and Rashaun Stimage netted 12 and 10 points, respectively.

In the second half, the Blue Demons chipped away at Butler's 13-point halftime advantage. With 12 1/2 minutes to play, Forrest Robinson's triple pulled DePaul within single digits for the first time since early in the first half, and it started a 7-0 run to cut Butler's lead to 55-50 near the midpoint of the half.

Jones' three-point play started an 8-1 spurt that ran the Bulldogs' advantage back to double figures. Alex Barlow hit a 3 from the corner to make it a 70-60 game, and Jones set up Kameron Woods for an alley-oop layup a minute later to force a Blue Demons timeout.

Crockett responded with a jumper out of the timeout, but the Blue Demons never got closer than nine the rest of the way. Jones punctuated the win with an acrobatic layup as the shot clock expired with 14 seconds remaining in the game.

DePaul entered the contest as the superior 3-point shooting team, but it was Butler's long-distance touch that was the difference in the first half.

An 11-0 Bulldogs run gave them a quick cushion, but they expanded their lead later when Dunham hit 3s on back-to-back possessions to put Butler up by 19 with 6:38 to play.

The Butler lead ballooned to as much as 20, but DePaul was able to cut it to 40-27 at the break despite the Bulldogs shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from long- distance.

While the Bulldogs were building that lead, the Blue Demons went five minutes without hitting a shot from the floor. Between a 3 from Tommy Hamilton IV with 8:53 to play and Henry's triple at the 3:43 mark of the first half, DePaul only added three free throws.

Game Notes

Butler is now 1-3 in home games against DePaul but still trails the all-time series, 6-3 ... The season series concludes on Feb. 28 at DePaul ... Blue Demons leading scorer Billy Garrett Jr. was held to six points on 1-of-6 shooting ... Butler does not play again until next Saturday when it takes on Villanova while DePaul heads to St. John's for another road test on Wednesday.