Pierre Brooks II logged a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds for Butler, which started the second half with a decisive run to beat Merrimack 78-39 on Friday night in Indianapolis.
Andre Screen had 12 points and nine rebounds while Jahmyl Telfort and Patrick McCaffery put up 11 points apiece for the Bulldogs (4-1). Evan Haywood added 10 points.
Adam Clark led the Warriors (1-4) with eight points. Matt Becht and David Murray each chipped in six points for Merrimack.
The Bulldogs turned a close game into a rout with a 28-2 run to start the second half. Butler led 37-31 at halftime but held Merrimack to 1-for-22 shooting from the field and 0-of-9 from three-point range for the first 14 minutes of the second half.
Merrimack scored just eight points in the second half. The Warriors shot 29.8 percent from the floor for the game and 14.3 percent (3-for-21) from long distance.
While the Warriors mixed 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones to slow down the Bulldogs’ offensive flow in the first half, it was a different game after halftime. Butler worked the ball around the perimeter to find holes in the Merrimack zone. Butler threw over the top to Screen, who spun baseline for a layup and a 45-31 lead.
On the next defensive possession, Screen blocked a shot, started the fastbreak with an outlet pass, and pulled down an offensive rebound, which he followed with a powerful, two-hand slam as the Bulldogs started to pull away.
McCaffery drilled a corner 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 50-33 edge with 11:14 left in the game. Brooks’ jumper with just over 10 minutes left in the game gave Butler its first 20-point lead of the game at 54-33.
A long 3-pointer from Brooks with 7:36 left opened the Butler lead to 63-33.
Merrimack broke the Butler onslaught with a fastbreak layup by Clark with 5:44 left in the game, ending the Warriors’ five-plus-minute scoring drought.
–Field Level Media
