Butler downs No. 25 Mississippi State in Arizona tourney final

Jaymyl Telfort scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and Pierre Brooks II scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Butler upset No. 25 Mississippi State 87-77 in the championship game of the Arizona Tip-Off in Tempe, Ariz., on Friday night.

Telfort connected on 4 of 7 3-point attempts for Butler (6-1) which won its fifth straight game. Landon Moore added 13 points and Andre Screen had six points, nine rebounds and four assists for Butler, which shot 52.8 percent from the floor, including 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Riley Kugel and Josh Hubbard each scored 22 points and Cameron Matthews and Michael Nwoko added 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Mississippi State (6-1). Mississippi State shot just 25.7 percent (7-for-27) from 3-point range and 37.7 percent from the floor.

Butler outrebounded Mississippi State 44-33.

The first half featured 11 lead changes and eight ties before Butler used a 12-6 run to close to build a 40-34 halftime lead. Butler shot 45.8 percent from the floor and connected on 7 of 12 3-point tries (58.3 percent) while Mississippi State missed its first 11 shots from long distance and finished the half 1-for-14 behind the arc (7.1 percent).

Brooks led all scorers at intermission with 10 points to go along with four rebounds. Telfort, who had a team-high 23 points in Butler's 71-69 semifinal victory over Northwestern on Thursday, added eight points before the break.

Butler increased its lead to 53-44 on a layup by Patrick McCaffrey early in the second half, but Kugel kept Mississippi State within striking distance by scoring 12 straight points for his team to open the half.

Butler took its first double-digit lead, 65-55, at the 11:08 mark on a pair of free throws by Moore and subsequently led 68-57 on a 3-pointer by Brooks.

Mississippi State, behind a pair of 3-pointers by Hubbard, then went on a 11-2 run to close to within 70-68. But Butler, behind five points by Brooks and pair of jumpers by Telfort, answered with a 11-2 run of its own to go back in front 81-70 with 2:46 to go.

Mississippi State never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

--Field Level Media