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Green does it all for Butler

Feb 13, 2008 - 5:00 AM MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- Pete Campbell and A.J. Graves were off their games on Tuesday but Mike Green was able to bail out Butler.

Green scored 24 points and had a huge overtime to lead the 10th-ranked Bulldogs to an 83-75 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a Horizon League matchup.

Campbell and Graves were both frigid from the floor, shooting a combined 6-of-25, but Green and Willie Veasley, who scored 12 points, kept Butler in the game and in position to win in regulation.

"I am proud of the poise we showed during the tough times," Butler coach Brad Stevens said. "I told the team in the locker that it was a team win."

Green made two free throws with five seconds left to give the Bulldogs (22-2, 11-2 Horizon) a 67-64 lead. Butler chose not to foul and Ricky Franklin drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with eight-tenths of a second left on the clock to force overtime.

Campbell, who was 4-of-11 from the field and had 12 points, started overtime with a 3-pointer and Green added a pair of free throws to make it 72-67. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (12-11, 7-6), which had led for most of the game, never recovered.

"It was a great college basketball game," Panthers coach Rob Jeter said. "Down the stretch those guys showed why they are the 10th-ranked team in the country. It just came down to doing the ordinary things. They did the ordinary things much better than us, especially in the last three minutes and then in the overtime."

Green scored 10 of his points in the overtime, including all six of his free throws. He added 13 rebounds, eight assists and a pair of steals for Butler, which is 14-1 in its last 15 games.

"All they need is one mistake and then they make you pay with either a three or a drive to the basket," Jeter said.

Marcus Skinner scored a career-high 25 points and Allan Hanson added 18 for the Panthers, who fell to 9-4 since leading scorer and rebounder Torre Johnson, who was averaging 17.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, was dismissed from the team in mid-December following his arrest on suspicion of battery.

"It's always a good challenge to play against a ranked team, but I just tried to play with the same energy and enthusiasm I always do," Skinner said.