Butler blows past St. John’s in Indianapolis

For a visiting team, it’s incredibly hard to defeat Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

It’s even harder when you come into the game on an nine-game losing streak, with your second best player out for the season, and your best player dealing with a nagging injury.

As a result, it comes as no shock that the Butler Bulldogs defeated the St. John’s Red Storm. What was a shock, though? The final score. The Bulldogs won, 70-45, and the result was never in doubt.

Butler opened the game on a 19-2 run, thanks to a three-point barrage from Kelan Martin, Aaron Thompson, Henry Baddley, Paul Jorgensen, and Kamar Baldwin.

Shamorie Ponds, the aforementioned best player going dealing with a nagging injury (knee), finished the day with just two points. He shot 0-12 from the field, the first Big East player to put up such a mark since Butler’s Kellen Dunham in the Bulldogs’ December 2015 win over Purdue.

Martin led the Bulldogs with 19 points, as he continues his stretch of strong play in Big East games. Butler improves to 15-7 (5-4), and St. John’s falls to 10-12 (0-10).

Eventually, something has to give for the Red Storm. But when? They’ve already clinched a losing record in Big East play as Chris Mullin’s third year continues to spiral out of control, and Ponds’ sophomore slump continues to build. It doesn’t get any easier for the Red Storm, either. They host Xavier, then Duke, then travel to Philadelphia to face Villanova.