Marquette owns second half to roll past Butler 70-55

Adrien Stevens scored a career-high 18 points and Chase Ross added 17 of his 19 points after halftime to lead Marquette's second-half surge in a 70-55 win over Butler on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee.

Stevens scored all of his points from 3-point range, making six of his nine attempts. The Golden Eagles (9-15, 4-9 Big East) made a season-high tying 14 3-pointers as a team, while shooting 45.2%, well above their 31.5% season average from the perimeter.

Ross made four 3-pointers with five assists and four rebounds. Nigel James Jr. tallied 16 points and four steals for Marquette, which won its third straight home game.

Finley Bizjack led Butler (13-11, 4-9) with 23 points for his 11th 20-point game of the season. He made 5 of 7 shots from 3-point range. Michael Ajayi paired eight points with 19 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who dropped their fourth straight game.

Butler was 32.8% from the floor and 28.6% from outside the arc, negating its 43-30 rebounding advantage.

Nine of the 3-pointers in Marquette's perimeter barrage came in the second half. The Golden Eagles led 32-28 at halftime before opening the second half on a 22-9 run to create a 54-37 lead with 13:58 left.

During that stretch, Marquette made five 3-pointers, including one from Stevens and one each from Parham and Ross.

The Bulldogs eventually responded with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 57-47 with 8:58 left, but a scoring drought of just over six minutes followed, preventing them from getting within single digits.

The teams traded runs early in the game, with Marquette remaining ahead even as Butler made its own surges. The Bulldogs twice cut the deficit to one point before finally taking its first lead on a Bizjack 3-pointer with 6:43 left in the half.

Bizjack finished the first half with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3 of 3 from outside the arc.

Marquette ended the first half on an 8-0 run over the final 1:55 to turn a four-point deficit into a four-point lead. James led the Golden Eagles with 10 first-half points on 3-of-9 shooting.

--Field Level Media