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3-point barrage carries Butler past Illinois-Chicago

Jan 30, 2007 - 6:03 AM INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Butler got its revenge and meted out a little punishment along the way.

Pete Campbell scored 17 points as the 11th-ranked Bulldogs used a dazzling display of 3-point shooting to crush Illinois-Chicago, 71-45, in a Horizon League contest.

Butler (20-2, 8-1 Horizon) had suffered its only league loss at Illinois-Chicago, 73-67, in overtime on January 10 and quickly showed there would be no encore.

The Bulldogs torched the Flames with a barrage of 3-pointers, racing out to a 17-3 lead with five different players connecting from the arc on their first five attempts.

Illinois-Chicago temporarily slowed the onslaught and was within 19-7 midway through the half, but Butler went on a 12-0 run that featured 3-pointers by A.J. Graves and Campbell for a 31-7 lead with 4:50 left.

The Bulldogs went to halftime ahead, 39-16, following a pair of 3-pointers by Campbell en route to winning their sixth straight contest and extending its home winning streak to 20 games.

In the opening 20 minutes, the Bulldogs were 9-of-17 from the arc, including 4-of-6 by Campbell, who has been on an amazing shooting spree from long distance in 2007.

The team's sixth man for most of the season, Campbell hit 5-of-8 3-pointers and is hitting 59 percent (29-of-49) from the arc in his last eight games.

Conversely, the Flames (9-14, 4-6) were dreadful from 3-point range, missing all seven attempts in the first half and finishing 2-of-16 in tumbling to their sixth consecutive defeat.

Mike Green scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out six assists for Butler, which built the lead to 30 points, 51-21, less than seven minutes into the second half and coasted to its 10th win in 11 games.

The romp gave the Bulldogs a chance to rest their top players. Leading scorer Graves scored just six points. The nation's leading free-throw shooter at 97 percent, he didn't even get to the line.

Othyus Jeffers was the only player in double figures for Illinois-Chicago with 17 points to go along with 11 rebounds