Finley Bizjack scored 19 points to pace five players in double figures as Butler built a 29-point lead on the way to an 81-71 victory over DePaul in a Big East regular-season finale on Saturday in Chicago.
Jamie Kaiser Jr. and Efeosa Oliogu-Elabor contributed 15 points apiece while Michael Ajayi notched 14 points and 11 rebounds for Butler (16-15, 7-13), which defeated DePaul for the 13th consecutive time and locked into the Big East tournament’s 8 vs. 9 game on Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
NJ Benson piled up 24 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks on Senior Day for DePaul (16-15, 8-12), which shot 6 of 27 from 3-point range to squander a chance to clinch the Big East’s No. 5 seed and a first-round bye. The Blue Demons will be No. 6 if Providence loses Saturday night at Georgetown, but No. 7 if the Friars win.
Butler big man Drayton Jones threw down two dunks in the first four minutes to stake the Bulldogs to an 8-5 lead. Meanwhile, DePaul hit just one of its first seven 3-point attempts against Butler’s 2-3 zone.
The Blue Demons compensated by turning to Benson, who authored two dunks and two other shots in the lane to keep DePaul within 20-17 midway through the first half.
While DePaul continued to struggle from long range, Bizjack and Kaiser drilled two 3-pointers apiece to build a 33-25 lead for Butler. DePaul answered with alley-oops from Brandon Maclin to Benson on back-to-back possessions to get within four, but Butler rebuilt a 39-32 lead by intermission.
Oliogu-Elabor set the tone for the second half on its first possession when he double-teamed Benson on the 3-point arc, knocked the ball out of his hands, broke away from the pack and threw down a two-handed reverse jam.
Bizjack followed with a floater, Kaiser sank a 3-pointer, Ajayi powered for a layup and Oliogu-Elabor hammered home a dunk on the break to cap an 11-0 spree to start the half that gave the Bulldogs a 50-32 lead with 16:41 to play.
Butler extended its advantage to 67-38 on Yohan Traore’s pair of free throws with 9:10 left before DePaul finally went on an extended run.
The Blue Demons got as close as 77-70 on CJ Gunn’s 3-pointer with 34.8 seconds to go
