No. 18 Butler Holds Off DePaul For 77-72 Win
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Kellen Dunham snapped out of his shooting slump with 24 points, and No. 18 Butler edged DePaul, 77-72, on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs (12-3, 1-2) put four players in double figures in their first Big East win after consecutive losses to No. 8 Providence and No. 10 Xavier. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points, Roosevelt Jones scored 15 and Kelan Martin had 12 points, including a poster-worthy dunk over DePaul's Darrick Wood in the second half.
Dunham was 8 for 14 from the field and 4 for 7 3-point range in his return to the starting lineup after coach Chris Holtmann tried using his leading scorer off the bench in Saturday's 88-69 loss to the Musketeers. The senior guard made just 14 of 72 shots over his previous six games.
Myke Henry had 22 points and 10 rebounds for DePaul (6-9, 0-3), which has dropped three straight and six of seven. Tommy Hamilton IV added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Wood scored 15 points.
R.J. Curington made two free throws to give the Blue Demons a 55-50 lead with 9:12 left, but Butler responded with a 12-2 run. Martin kicked it off with two foul shots and finished the surge with a layup that made it 62-57 with 5:43 to go.
Henry's layup got DePaul within three in the final seconds, but Dunham made two foul shots to help the Bulldogs hold on for their fourth straight win in the series.
Butler turned 17 DePaul turnovers into 24 points, helping offset a 39-25 rebounding advantage for the Blue Demons.
Dunham made two foul shots and two 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes, helping Butler get off to a fast start. He had a nice backdoor cut along the baseline before Chrabascz found him with a bounce pass for a dunk over Henry and a 34-28 lead with 2:12 left in the first half.
But Henry responded with a driving layup with 42 seconds to go, trimming Butler's advantage to 35-34 at halftime. Henry and Dunham each had 12 points at the break.
TIP-INS
Butler: Dunham scored 24 points in each of Butler's two wins against DePaul last season.
DePaul: Billy Garrett Jr. had nine points, leaving him with 995 for his career.
UP NEXT
Butler hosts No. 11 Villanova on Sunday night.
DePaul visits Georgetown on Saturday.
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