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Graves powers Butler to 22nd victory

Feb 4, 2007 - 5:02 AM INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Another fast start by Butler led to another blowout victory.

A.J. Graves scored 20 points to lead the 11th-ranked Bulldogs to their eighth straight win, a 66-47 Horizon League victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Butler (22-2, 10-1 Horizon) raced out to a 9-0 lead en route to a 34-18 halftime advantage. The Bulldogs then scored the first eight points of the second half and cruised to their seventh double-digit win in the eight-game streak.

"You just have to give credit where credit is due," Panthers coach Rob Jeter said. "They had played a lot of games in just a few days but they came home and took care of business. It's a credit to how they do things."

Graves, who was coming off a poor shooting performance in Wednesday's rout of Youngstown State, was on target in this one, scoring 12 points in the first half and finishing 7-of-13 from the field.

With the Bulldogs leading, 26-13, Graves hit a jumper, Peter Campbell nailed a 3-pointer and, after a shot from the arc by the Panthers' Ricky Franklin, Graves closed the half with a 3-pointer.

The nation's leading free-throw shooter at 97 percent, Graves nailed all four of his attempts to help Butler stay tied with No. 2 Wisconsin for the most wins in Division I.

Mike Green added 14 points and Campbell hit three 3-pointers for nine as the Bulldogs shot 48 percent (21-47).

Campbell continued his torrid streak of shooting from the arc. He finished 3-of-5 Saturday and has connected on 60 percent (36-of-60) of his 3-point attempts in his last 10 games.

Ricky Franklin scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting for Wisconsin-Milwaukee (8-17, 5-7), which shot just 35 percent (18-of-51) and was 4-of-18 from the arc.

Jeter was perturbed that Butler attempted three times as many free throws as his team.

"The bottom line for us is that we could not establish anything inside," Jeter said. "For them to shoot the amount of free throws they did and for us to shoot 7-of-9 - you just aren't going to win on the road if you don't get to the free-throw line."

Paige Paulsen was also in double figures, netting 10 points for the Panthers, who dropped to 1-11 on the road this season.