No. 24 Butler Falls in Final Seconds at Colby

COLBY, Kan. – The 24th ranked Butler men's basketball team nearly pulled off a road win but fell 72-70 in the final seconds at the Colby Event Center on Tuesday evening.

Butler (17-7, 12-6 KJCCC) went 1-1 on its Western Kansas trip playing back-to-back days as they defeated Fort Hays Tech on Monday and fell at Colby (14-11, 9-10) Tuesday. The Colby game was pushed up due to inclement weather in the Colby area.

The Grizzlies led Colby 70-66 following two Seven Bahati free throws with 2:40 to play. They held that lead for over a minute until two Colby free throws made it 70-68. The Grizzlies got a wide-open look from three on the next possession with one minute to play but Russell Branch missed just short and the Trojans went down the floor, tying the game at 70 following a timeout as Raphael Nagau-Trouart put in a tough layup with 41.2 to play. The Grizzlies got another good look on the next possession but Josiah Kirkwood was short on a floater and Colby took over with 5.6 seconds to play, calling a timeout. Out of the timeout the Trojans got the ball in to Gaius Meowuru M'Ella who was fouled by Emeka Opurum and converted both free throws with 1.9 seconds left. Kaeson Fisher-Brown got a look for Butler with time expiring from a few steps behind the top of the key but it hit off the front rim as the Trojans snuck away with the victory.

The Grizzlies and Trojans split the regular season meetings with Butler winning 57-54 at home on Dec. 11th earlier this year.

Butler was scorching from three in the game, shooting 16-38 (40.6%). The 16 made threes tied a season-high that was set on Dec. 6th in a win over Fort Hays Tech. Butler shot just four free throws in the game (2-4) as Colby was 21-26 from the line. The Grizzlies turned the ball over just 11 times compared to 15 from Colby.

Bahati finished with a team-high and season-high 16 points off the bench, going 4-4 from distance. Bahati and Branch hit multiple key triples down the stretch of the second half to pull Butler out of a 10-point deficit and back into the lead. The Grizzlies used a 13-0 run to take a 62-59 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the second half. Branch finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists on 4-11 shooting. Opurum added eight points and 10 rebounds while Fisher-Brown had nine points and four rebounds.

Colby's Eternity Eguagie led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 13-13 from the free throw line. Meowuru M'Ella had 15 points while Maxence Massadila had 10 points and four assists.

The Grizzlies next action comes on Saturday when they host Independence at 4 p.m. in the Power Plant.