Feb. 20, 2010

Final Stats

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Siena challenged Butler's toughness Saturday. The Bulldogs pushed right back. Shelvin Mack scored 23 points and Gordon Hayward produced his fourth straight double-double, leading No. 18 Butler to its 17th consecutive victory, 70-53. Clarence Jackson scored a game-high 24 points in a losing effort for the Saints.

The Bulldogs (25-4) shredded Siena's (22-6) zone early, making four 3-pointers--two by Avery Jukes--in the first 3 1/2 minutes. That helped Butler jump to a 16-7 lead. But Siena picked things up on defense, repeatedly clogging the middle and preventing Butler's players from getting to their spots.

On offense, the Saints routinely drove into the middle, lowered their shoulders and drew contact. The strategy threw off Butler as Siena went on a 24-12 run over the final 15:55 of the half to take a 31-28 advantage into the lockerroom.

Jackson came up huge in the opening stanza, scoring 14 of the Saints' first 16 points, routinely coming up with key plays on the offensive end to spike Siena's offense.

Butler began the second half with a quick 6-1 run to take a 34-32 lead, but reigning Horizon League player of the year Matt Howard was called for his fourth foul with 16:29 to go.

It looked like Siena would be able to respond and regain control at that point, but Hayward and Mack started driving hard to the basket, pushing the Butler lead to five (41-36) with 14:43 to go. And with the inside game working, the perimeter was suddenly open again for Butler's long-range shooters. Zach Hahn responded with consecutive 3s that gave Butler a 47-38 lead with 10:56 to go and the Saints never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

"We have to play with a greater level of intelligence," head coach Fran McCaffery said. "It was still a one-possession game with 10 minutes to go. We'll try to be better at that part of the game in the future."

Jackson and Ryan Rossiter, with 10 points and nine rebounds, were the only Siena players to reach double figures. Siena shot just 23.3% (7-30) in the second half, while the Bulldogs shot 60.9% (14-23) for the stanza.

The combination kept the Saints winless on the road against ranked opponents since they made the jump to Division I in 1976-77.

Siena returns to action Friday in a nationally televised game at Rider on ESPNU. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.