Butler vs. Georgetown: Bulldogs fold at home, 87-83

Tyler Wideman goes up for a dunk against a Georgetown defender on Feb. 13. Wideman notched 19 points in the loss. Photo by Jimmy Lafakis. 

DANA LEE | SPORTS EDITOR | delee1@butler.edu

Despite trimming a 15-point deficit down to three late in the final seconds, the Butler men’s basketball team fell to Georgetown, 87-83, to drop the first game of a three-game homestead. With the loss, the Bulldogs sink to 17-10 overall and 7-7 in Big East play. It is the third straight loss after the team fell to Xavier in overtime last week.

After trailing Georgetown for nearly the entire game, Kamar Baldwin had the chance to tie with a 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds. A locked-down Hoyas defense shut the shot down at the key, a game trend Butler struggled against.

“An easy summary is the team that deserved to win, won,” Butler head coach LaVall Jordan said.

A layup and two free throws from Baldwin put the score at 84-79. Then Butler forced a Georgetown turnover, allowing Tyler Wideman to score an easy dunk and bringing the lead within three.

It was the closest Butler was going to get. The last time the two teams met in December, Butler engineered a 20-point comeback to steal a 91-89 double-overtime road win.

“We’ve lost six or seven games when we had the lead,” Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing. “If my team hasn’t learned from that yet, we’re not going to learn anything.”

Consider the lesson learned. Georgetown shot 59 percent from the field to outpace Butler’s 47 percent.

Marcus Derrickson made himself indispensable to Georgetown’s offense in the first half, missing just one shot and draining the rest for 15 points on his way to a game-high 27 points. His team followed suit by shooting 60 percent from the field and 45 percent from the 3-point arc.

At the half, Butler trailed 44-39, shooting just over 46 percent from the field. Christian David knocked down two consecutive 3-pointers in addition to a free throw for seven points.

Photos by Jimmy Lafakis. 

Butler trimmed the deficit down to 58-50 early in the second half and gained a brief momentum shift after head coach LaVall Jordan called a full-court press resulting in back-to-back turnovers. The results were temporary, as Georgetown returned the favor with a full-court press of their own to discombobulate Butler.

“We let our offense dictate our defense,” forward Kelan Martin said.

Martin led the charge for Butler, scoring 22 points and 8 rebounds. Tyler Wideman and Kamar Baldwin were the only other Bulldogs in double digits, tallying 19 and 16 points respectively.

“We have to inspect who we want to be moving forward and how we’re going to fight,” Jordan said.

Butler plays Providence on Feb. 17 at noon.

Follow Dana on Twitter at @dana_lee7

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