The Butler men’s basketball team pushed its winning streak to three games last night by defeating Loyola of Chicago 63-57.

The victory moved the Bulldogs (16-12, 10-6) past Detroit and into third place in the Horizon League.

Four Butler players finished in double-digits. Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins led the way with 13 points and six
rebounds.

Loyola junior forward Ben Averkamp led all scorers with 23 points and six rebounds for the Ramblers (6-19, 1-14).

The Bulldogs started strong, shooting 58 percent from the field on their way to a 13-point lead— the largest of the game— with 2:27 left in the opening half.

Butler went cold from that point on, allowing the Ramblers to come back and tie the game at 44 with 7:52 to play.

“I thought [Loyola’s] 6-0 run at the end of the [first] half really hurt us,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Then I thought we were too passive the first 10 minutes of the second half.

“I think your aggression leads to better offensive play, and I didn’t think we were the more aggressive team at that moment.”

Foul shots made by junior center Andrew Smith and Hopkins gave Butler a 47-44 advantage.

Sophomore forward Khyle Marshall, who scored 12 points, added two key baskets that brought the momentum back to the Bulldogs, who held on to the lead for the remainder of the game.

“[Marshall] makes [passing to him] easy just because he’s ridiculously athletic,” senior guard Ronald Nored said. “So if you just throw it anywhere close to the rim, he’s probably going to dunk it.

“He also does a good job of finding spots where he can be open.”

Nored finished the contest with nine assists—a game-high.

Aside from Averkamp, the Ramblers struggled to score.

Loyola’s other four starters tallied 24 points combined and the team shot 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs also shot nearly 10 percent better from the field than the Ramblers.

“I told our guys in the locker room that it’s hard to win a basketball game,” Stevens said, “and you always need to remember that, understand that and come into the game thinking that.”

Prior to taking on Loyola, Butler closed its two-game Ohio road trip with a key victory over then-Horizon League leading Cleveland State.

Freshman forward Roosevelt Jones’ career high 17 points led the way in the Bulldogs’ 52-49 victory over the Vikings (20-6, 10-4).

Cleveland State freshman forward Anton Grady led the Vikings with 18 points and 13 rebounds on his way to a double-double, but it was not enough to overcome stifling defense by the Bulldogs (15-12, 9-6).

Butler held a 28-18 lead at halftime, in large part to Cleveland State’s 24.1 percent shooting from the field.

The Vikings’ three-point shooting kept them in it, as the team shot 5-for-10 from beyond the arc in the second half after not making a single three-point field goal in the first half.

The Vikings tied the game at 34 with 12:55 remaining. The teams then exchanged the lead six times before the end of the contest.

With the game tied at 49 and with 1:39 remaining in the game, Hopkins hit a jump shot that would give Butler the lead for good.

Marshall returned for the Bulldogs after a two-game absence due to concussion-like symptoms. He scored 12 points and added eight rebounds off the bench.

On Thursday night, Butler defeated Youngstown State 68-59 to start its road trip on the right foot.

Hopkins led the Bulldogs with 19 points, scoring 13 in the second half to help suppress a comeback by the Penguins (14-11, 9-6).

Butler led by as many as 14 points early in the second half, only to have Youngstown State cut the lead to four points with about 12 minutes remaining in the game.

Freshman guard Jackson Aldridge tied his career high of 15 points while going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs will continue their schedule at home on Saturday against Indiana State at 2 p.m.

The Butler women’s basketball team’s three-game winning streak was snapped by a 72-58 loss to Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon.

It was the first win for the Crusaders (7-16, 3-9) at Hinkle Fieldhouse since 1983.

The Bulldogs (10-13, 6-6) led by one point at halftime but were outscored by 14 points in the second half.

Senior guard Devin Brierly put up a team-high 20 points, and Butler’s bench tallied 14 points, but the team was done in by 33.3 percent shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs also shot 63.6 percent from the free throw line, a stark contrast to Valparaiso’s 78.9 percent performance.

Crusaders senior guard Ashley Timmerman put up 10 points in the first three minutes of the second half to put Valparaiso on top.

Photo by Rachel Anderson

The Bulldogs never regained momentum, committing six turnovers while shooting just 27 percent in the half.

Butler was down 52-48 with just over eight minutes left, but Valparaiso pulled away, converting six free throw attempts in the last 45 seconds of the contest.

Freshman guard Hannah Douglas was the only other Bulldog in double figures, recording 14 points.

Timmerman finished with 13 points for the Crusaders, while sophomore forward Tabitha Gerardot tallied a game-high 26 points.

The Bulldogs will host conference foe Loyola of Chicago at Hinkle tomorrow at 7 p.m. before welcoming Illinois-Chicago to Indianapolis on Saturday.

Butler came away with a 60-57 win over the Ramblers (11-13, 6-7) in the first meeting between the team’s this season.

The result of an earlier contest against the Flames (15-9, 8-5) was far different, with UIC grabbing a 77-42 win.

The Butler men’s basketball team pushed its winning streak to three games with a win over Horizon League opponent Loyola of Chicago Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (12-9, 6-3) beat the Ramblers (5-15, 0-9) 63-57 to end a pivotal conference road trip that began with a 57-49 Butler victory over Illinois-Chicago earlier in the week.

Against Loyola, Butler looked to senior point guard and defensive leader Ronald Nored for a strong performance.

“Down the stretch, Loyola played really well, and I played with poise and toughness,” Nored said.

Nored did not disappoint, finishing one assist shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine assists.

The nine assists marked a career-best for Nored.

“I felt like Ron was the best player on the floor,” coach Brad Stevens said.

Butler’s big men were also key in the victory, as sophomore forward Khyle Marshall and junior center Andrew Smith scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Marshall shot 6-of-7 from the floor in the second half to erase a scoreless opening half.

“Instead of getting frustrated about it, I focused on the second half,” Marshall said.

Photo by Taylor Cox

Smith also collected 13 rebounds, giving him his third double-double of the season.

The Bulldogs went into halftime with a 25-23 lead, but they would fall into a 28-28 tie two and a half minutes into the second half.

At that point, Butler went on a 7-1 run to take the lead.

Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins and freshman forward Kameron Woods hit field goals and junior guard Chase Stigall added a 3-point basket to fuel the run.

Following the surge, the Bulldogs would hold off the Ramblers the rest of the way and pick up the victory.

Loyola was led by senior forward Walt Gibler and freshman guard Joe Crisman with 14 points each.

In addition to having three players finish with double-digit points, Butler received 12 points off the bench from the duo of Hopkins and Woods.

The Bulldogs also shot 68.2 percent from the free-throw line, with Nored making all eight of his attempts.

The showing improved Butler’s team percentage from the free throw line to 62.0 percent.

The Bulldogs also had a strong performance defensively, recording nine blocks and five steals.

In the first game of the Chicago trip, Butler defeated UIC 57-49 behind a strong performance from freshman forward Roosevelt Jones.

Jones finished with 16 points and five rebounds before fouling out of the game.

Nored was the only other Bulldog in double figures, with 10 points and seven assists.

Despite shooting just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc, Butler got two triples from Woods, who came off the bench and finished with eight points.

The Flames (6-12, 2-6) pulled to within four points with 41 seconds remaining, but the Bulldogs hung on to grab a conference victory.

“You just have to play,” Stevens said. “[The Flames] did just that and fought through to the end of the game.”

Freshman guard Marc Brown and junior guard Gary Talton scored 11 points each to lead UIC.

Butler will move on from the Chicago trip and head to Wisconsin this week.

The Bulldogs will take on Wisconsin-Milwaukee (13-8, 6-3) Thursday before facing Green Bay (7-12, 3-6) Saturday.

The Butler women’s basketball team ended its two-game Chicago trip with a 60-57 Horizon League win over Loyola of Chicago on Saturday.

For the Bulldogs (7-11, 3-4), the victory was their first on the road this season.

“We have played some away games that were pretty close and could have gone any way,” coach Beth Couture said. “Now that we have won one, I think the pressure is off of us. I think the kids were ready, but it had not rolled our way until Saturday.”

The Bulldogs started the game neck and neck with the Ramblers (9-10, 4-4), but two 3-pointers from Loyola junior forward Abby Skube gave the squad a 16-9 advantage.

The Ramblers used that momentum to build a 31-18 lead by halftime.

Butler ended the first half shooting 22 percent from the field, a far cry from Loyola’s 42 percent mark. The shooting discrepancy put the Bulldogs down by as many as 17 points in the first 20 minutes.

“They are a 3-point-shooting team, and we knew if we let them shoot or make a lot of threes, it was going to be hard for us to score with them,” Couture said. “We gave them five 3-pointers in the first half, and that was really the difference.”

In the second half, sophomore center Sarah Hamm led a rally that eventually cut Loyola’s lead to one point. Hamm finished the game with a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds.

“[Sarah] has really stepped it up, and her ability to flat out score inside and out is a huge key to us winning games,” junior forward Becca Bornhorst said. “She has been knocking down threes consistently, which makes her harder to guard.”

The Bulldogs took a 58-56 lead with 1:26 remaining in the game on a layup by freshman guard Hannah Douglas.

The Ramblers were unable to rally, giving Butler its fourth conference victory.

Hamm also led the team with a career-high 23 points in the team’s 77-42 loss at Illinois-Chicago on Thursday.

Despite leading all Bulldogs in scoring, Hamm said she was disappointed in the team’s overall performance.

“Individual performance did not matter in that game because we did not perform well as a team,” Hamm said. “Our team needs to be focused and more tuned in to the game plan.”

Despite Butler’s losing record, Couture said Hamm’s scoring has become an asset to the team.

“She has just continued to improve since right before Christmas,” Couture said. “She has really taken her game to the next level. She is a force inside the guard, which has really opened some things up for us inside.”

Couture also said that the team lagged behind in shooting against the Flames (12-7, 5-3) and that UIC’s 46 rebounds helped them to control the ball.

“It was one of those games where we were not even close to being at our best and they played at pretty much their best,” Couture said. “Even things we could control we just could not get a grasp on. I do not want us to play like that ever again.”

Couture said the Bulldogs will now turn their attention to their next game, a home contest against nationally-ranked Green Bay on Thursday.

“I think we will have to play pressure-free,” Couture said. “Hopefully the girls will go out there pressure-free and have some fun and see what happens when the stress is not on us.”

The game will start at 7 p.m. in Hinkle Fieldhouse.