Butler carried momentum from a surge late in the first half and defeated visiting DePaul 74-60 in a battle of struggling Big East teams in Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon.
Pierre Brooks scored 20 points to lead three players in double figures for the Bulldogs (12-7, 3-5 Big East), who had lost five of their last six games. Posh Alexander added 17 points, six steals and six assists, and DJ Davis also chipped in 17 points.
Butler led by double digits for most of the second half and was up by as many as 17 on two occasions.
Jalen Terry led DePaul (3-15, 0-7) with 15 points, knocking down five 3-pointers. Elijah Fisher contributed 13 points and three steals and K.T. Raimey added 12. The Blue Demons were without leading scorer Chico Carter Jr. (11.8 points per game), whose injury was not disclosed.
Terry knocked down a 3-pointer to get DePaul within single digits at 49-40 with 11:07 left in the game, but a pair of treys by Brooks pushed the lead back to 15. The Blue Demons never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Butler built a 10-point cushion late in the first half and widened it when, coming off a timeout, Davis hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 37-24 lead at intermission. Butler hit six of its final eight shots of the half.
DePaul led 16-14 with 9:10 left in the first half after a jumper by Raimey. But the Blue Demons committed seven turnovers in a four-minute span as the Bulldogs pulled away with a 13-2 spurt.
DePaul finished the game with 14 turnovers to eight for Butler.
Neither team shot very well. The Bulldogs made 41.7 percent of their shots in the second half to finish at 40 percent overall. The Blue Demons shot 46.7 percent in the second half and were at 41.8 percent for the game.
–Field Level Media