Butler takes down St. John’s in overtime

The Butler Bulldogs overcame a 16-point first half deficit Tuesday night to come away with a 76-73 overtime victory over the St. John’s Red Storm at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The game was a wild one, featuring nine different lead changes and the Bulldogs coming back from being down by double-digits in the second half.

Big East leading scorer Julian Champagnie had 19 points in the game, but it was a team effort on offense for the Red Storm, with Isaih Moore and Vince Dunn each finishing in double digits as well.

Butler was led by Bryce Nze with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Aaron Thompson tacked on 17 points of his own, and made the layup which sent the game into overtime after Butler forced a steal on a St. John inbounds pass with eight seconds to play.

Overtime saw Butler pull away when Thompson hit another layup and Myles Tate added a pair of free throws, as the Bulldogs clamped down on defense for the 76-73 victory.

Butler improves to 7-10 on the season and 6-8 in conference play. They will play Georgetown on Saturday in Washington DC. St. John’s falls to 13-8 on the year and 7-7 in conference play, as their six-game winning streak was snapped. The Red Storm return to action next Tuesday against Xavier.