Pierre Brooks poured in a career-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting to guide Butler to an 88-78 win over Penn State in the consolation bracket of the ESPN Events Invitational on Friday in Kissimmee, Fla.
Butler (4-2) recovered from an early nine-point deficit and took control down the stretch, with Jahmyl Telfort providing 18 points and eight rebounds and DJ Davis adding 14 points and seven boards. Brooks finished 5-of-9 from 3-point range, including 4-of-6 in the second half alone.
Butler will meet the winner between VCU and Boise State in Sunday’s fifth-place game. Penn State (4-2) will face the loser of that one for seventh place.
The Nittany Lions lost despite the heroics of Kanye Clary, who set his own career best with 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting.
Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 15 points, Nick Kern had 12 points and Zach Hicks scored 11 with eight rebounds.
The game began pretty evenly until Kern’s personal 6-0 run put Penn State ahead 20-17. Clary and Hicks each added five points to the pile to make it 30-21 with 7:09 before halftime.
Andre Screen (nine points, eight rebounds) ended a quiet Butler stretch with a layup, and the Bulldogs ruled the rest of the half. Brooks’ tough three-point play highlighted a 12-2 run that put Butler in front, and the Bulldogs made five of their final six shots of the half to lead 42-39 at intermission.
Butler stayed hot by converting five of its first 10 shots from the field in the second half. Brooks had a corner 3-pointer rattle in and out, but Telfort batted the rebound back to him and he made his second-chance triple for Butler to lead 56-47.
It became 57-47 before the Nittany Lions started chipping away. Twice, Clary made a bucket to trim the deficit to three only for Butler to respond with a 3-pointer.
Brooks made a pair of open 3-pointers and Davis hit a deep one, but Puff Johnson and Baldwin each answered with triples for Penn State.
With the Nittany Lions down 10, Johnson tried a baseline layup and Jalen Thomas cleanly swatted it away. Butler turned that into two free throws the other way and led by as many as 14 in the final minutes.
–Field Level Media