Ball Pressure Plays Key in Grizzlies Upset Win at No. 3 Coffeyville

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. – The Butler Grizzlies spoiled No. 3 Coffeyville's home conference opener with a dominant 98-75 win on Wednesday night at Nellis Hall.

Butler (5-2, 1-0) forced 31 Coffeyville (5-1, 0-1) turnovers on the night. Six different Grizzlies had three steals or more, with Devin Kerr having a game high five. 

The Grizzlies fell behind early 18-6 with 13:54 to go in the first half, but the Grizzlies responded with an 11 nothing run to cut the Coffeyville lead to one. 

The Grizzlies again found themselves down in the first half, trailing 33-24 with six minutes to go. After a couple of threes from Jaise Combs, and after three straight Coffeyville turnovers that led to easy Grizzly buckets, Butler took the lead 36-35 with two and a half minutes to play and never lost the lead again. Butler took a 44-36 lead heading into the break. 

Butler led by ten, 63-53 with 12 and a half minutes to go in the game, The Grizzlies just blew the game open as they went on a 19-4 run to extend their lead to 82-57 with eight minutes to play. Three minutes later, the Grizzlies went on another run and had their biggest lead of the night with five minutes to go, leading 93-63 over the No. 3 ranked Red Ravens. 

Coffeyville struggled the whole second half, as the Grizzly full-court press proved to be too much for the Red Ravens. 

Freshman Tristan Hankins had a game-high 27 points on nine of 14 shooting, three of five from three, along with four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Returner Josiah Kirkwood scored the first couple of baskets on the night for the Grizzlies and finished his evening with a career-high 18 points on eight of ten shooting. Jaise Combs added another 18 points for the Grizzlies, finishing four of eight from three. 

Butler outrebounded Coffeyville 36-32. The Grizzlies had 23 steals as a team, to go along with 39 points off turnovers. Coffeyville shot 20 more free throws than the Grizzlies. Butler was 12-16 on the night and Coffeyville was 27-36. 

The Grizzlies have now won four of their last five games against Coffeyville at Nellis Hall.

Next up: The Grizzlies host rival Hutchinson from the Power Plant in El Dorado at 4 p.m. on Saturday.