Butler men surge in second half to beat Friends, 95-62

The Butler men had five players in double figures as they pulled away in the second half for a 95-62 win over Friends University JV on Thursday night at the Power Plant.

Friends was able to keep pace with the Grizzlies early on, even taking a 21-17 lead on a 3-pointer by Trevor White midway through the first half. Butler would answer with consecutive baskets by Jordan Madrid-Andrews, Sean Osler and LaMont Pruitt to take a 23-21 lead. Friends would briefly take back the lead on a three-point play, but Butler would use a 10-0 run and never look back. Freshman Trent Richardson scored a three-point play and Isaiah Bradshaw hit three consecutive field goals - including a three-pointer - during the run.

Butler led 42-30 at the half and then scored the first six points of the second half and pushed the lead past 20 on a 3-pointer by Bakari Triggs with 17:41 to play that made it a 55-33 contest. The lead reached 31 points on a LaMont Pruitt dunk with 1:41 left in the game.

Trent Richardson led the Grizzlies with 18 points. Eric Watson had 15, LaMont Pruitt had 13 while Isaiah Bradshaw scored 11 and Shomari Triggs scored 10.

Butler improves to 5-2 on the season. The Grizzlies face a stiff test on Saturday with a road game at Cowley on Saturday. Butler will be looking for a season sweep of the Tigers after winning 67-62 at home earlier this month.