Jahmyl Telfort made big shots all night long for Butler against Texas Tech on Thursday and his biggest make lit the fuse on a decisive run in overtime.
The Bulldogs gutted out a 103-95 victory in OT by weathering the Red Raiders’ second-half rally, fueled by 3-point shooting and point guard Joe Toussaint’s big night.
The Bulldogs closed the game on an 18-10 burst to finally close out a gritty win in the Big East/Big 12 Battle at Indianapolis, Ind.
Telfort led Butler (6-2) with 26 points, D.J. Davis notched 25 and hit three 3-pointers and Pierre Brooks helped ice the win in OT with a point-blank layup on an inbounds play and clutch long-range dagger as part of his 18 points.
Chance McMillan pumped in 24 points for Texas Tech (5-2) and hit eight of his team’s 13 3-pointers. Toussaint added 20 points and recorded 12 assists, one more than Posh Alexander had for Butler to go with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The teams swapped the lead three times early in overtime, but when Telfort connected on a 3 with 3:24 to go, the Bulldogs took over and never looked back. That was the 11th of 12 treys for Butler.
Red Raiders’ guard Pop Isaacs forced overtime when he scored on a left-handed driving layup with 3.8 seconds to go in regulation. Telfort got just past midcourt for a desperate 3-point attempt that was short.
Telfort put the Bulldogs in front 83-81 with a 3 from the left wing with 30 seconds to go after Isaacs was called for a travel with the score knotted.
Before the late clutch shots, the Red Raiders surged back and seemed in control when a 25-10 lead gave them as large as a 73-67 lead when McMillan buried 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.
Butler didn’t fold, though, and D.J. Davis matched McMillan with two huge 3s, the second at the 1:37 juncture for an 80-79 lead.
After carving out a 45-38 halftime lead, the Bulldogs extended their lead to a game-high 62-52 on a Telfort jump hook, the end of a 10-3 run.
Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams responded with 3-pointers on back-to-back trips, and the rest of the game was back-and-forth.
–Field Level Media