Road Woes Continue For Saints at Butler
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College (10-10, 3-4) | 20 | 38 | 58 |
|
Butler Community College (21-0, 7-0) | 36 | 46 | 82 |
The Seward County Saints struggles on the road arose once again Saturday afternoon in El Dorado as Seward was hammered 82-58 by #4 Butler to fall to 0-7 away from the Greenhouse this season. In a game that was a dog fight to start, the Saints held a 5-4 lead to the 13:13 mark of the first half, but it was downhill from there as Seward was outscored by 16 in the first half and was never close in the second half in the 24 point defeat.
After pulling out a hard fought win Wednesday in the Greenhouse against Garden City, the start of Seward's game against #4 Butler Saturday afternoon in El Dorado looked to be going just their style as neither team could find the bucket early on as the Saints led 5-2 after four minutes of play. However, Butler began to find the hoop and the Saints did not as Seward was held without a field goal for over 7:00 as Butler turned the tide on them and took a 12-7 lead of their own. A three by Darius Polley broke the Saints drought to make it a two point game, but for the final 9:40 of the first half, it was all Grizzlies. Butler outscored Seward 24-10 to finish the half to give the Grizzlies a 36-20 lead at the half.
The Saints shot just 23% in the first half and didn't have a single player with more than 6 points while Butler shot 52% from the field and led Seward by 16 despite 17 first half turnovers.
The start of the second half was a sign of things to come for Seward as a well-orchestrated set play by Butler netted them an alley-oop dunk to begin the period and the route was on from there. The Saints deficit grew to 26 as Butler took a 53-27 lead after a 9-0 Grizzly run and it was a 60-32 game as the clock rolled under 8:00 to play. Seward cut it to a 17 point game with 4:14 to go after back to back finishes by Polley, but it was far too little too late as Butler went on to win 82-58 to send the Saints back to a long bus ride home licking their wounds at 3-4 in Jayhawk West Conference play.
Seward finished the game shooting just 31% overall from the field and they had even a tougher time shooting from deep, going just 4 for 21 from the three point line in the loss. On the other side, Butler had no troubles at all scoring, shooting 52% on the night while outrebounding Seward by 20 in the victory. Polley and Nick Singleton were the only two Saints to reach double figures in the loss, each scoring 12 points. Outside of Singleton and Polley, the Saints managed to shoot just 18%.
The Saints fall back to .500 on the season with the loss at 10-10 and drop to 3-4 in Jayhawk West play, matching their most losses in conference play in five seasons, despite not being to the midway mark in conference action yet. #4 Butler remains hot, staying unbeaten at 21-0 on the year and keeping their Jayhawk West Conference record sparkling at 7-0. The 24 point defeat marks the first time that the Saints have been beaten by 20 or more points twice in a season since the 2003-2004 campaign.
Seward will have to regroup quick as things don't get any easier for them next week. The Saints host #18 Hutchinson Wednesday in the Greenhouse at 8:00 followed by a rematch against red hot Barton on Saturday night in Liberal. Free tickets for the Hutchinson game are available courtesy of our buyout sponsor Sunflower Bank at their Liberal location or at Pizza Hut and Hutch's.