Junior guard Finley Bizjack logged a team-high 30 points against Providence. Photo by Drew Kosmak.
The men’s basketball team dropped a grueling game on the road against Providence despite strong performances from junior guard Finley Bizjack and graduate forward Michael Ajayi, as the Friars held on to win 97-87.
As soon as the Dawgs secured the opening tip-off, both teams commenced what would become nearly eight uninterrupted minutes of gameplay, displaying clear fatigue from both squads with a combined 38.5 field-goal percentage for the first half of play.
Despite the ugly outing, Butler held a slim two-point advantage heading into the break thanks to 13 points from Bizjack, eight of which came from the charity stripe.
Butler did itself no favors on the offensive end to try to pull away, though, as the Dawgs compounded the issue of a stagnant offense by racking up just three first-half assists to pair with six turnovers.
With the second period underway, Bizjack continued to shoulder the offensive load early on, nailing a three-point jumper on the first possession en route to 30 points on the night. For Providence, graduate guard Jaylin Sellers and first-year guard Stefan Vaaks continued to give the Bulldogs fits thanks to a combined 56 points, including 36 from Sellers alone.
However, as the second half matured, Ajayi began to take advantage offensively down low, going 4-of-6 from the field to pair with two steals and a block. For the night, Ajayi logged his 15th double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 boards.
Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Friars to a crucial four-minute scoring drought down the stretch to help extend the lead to as large as seven points.
Providence would not go down without a fight, though, clawing back to take a lead with a go-ahead three-pointer from Sellers.
Sophomore guard Evan Haywood responded in due time, nailing a floater down the lane to give Butler the advantage once again with 29.2 seconds to play before Vaaks knotted the score at 73 with a free throw.
In response, Bizjack utilized a flurry of pump fakes to get a trip to the charity stripe himself before missing both attempts with under a second left in regulation to force overtime.
As the extra period got underway, both squads exchanged more empty trips from the free-throw line before Sellers and first-year guard Efeosa Oliogu-Elabor traded big-time three-pointers to get the scoring going.
With under a minute to go in overtime, the two squads exchanged scores once more as sophomore guard Nilavan Daniels chose a timely moment for his eighth triple of the season to put the Friars ahead to set up a game-tying free throw from Ajayi to force double OT.
The Dawgs would start the final period of the night scoreless as Providence strided out to a 10-0 run in 2OT, as they began to lose the war of attrition with Ajayi, Haywood and redshirt-sophomore forward Jamie Kaiser Jr. each fouling out during the extra time.
Approaching the twilight of the conference slate, Butler has now dropped three games in a row, entering a road bout against Marquette on Feb. 7.
