Pierre Brooks II scored a game-high 25 points to help lead Butler to a 70-56 win over Boise State in the fifth-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday in Kissimmee, Fla.
Posh Alexander added 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Butler (5-2), which made 29 of its 56 field-goal attempts (51.8 percent). Jahmyl Telfort had 11 points and a team-high five assists for the Bulldogs, who led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
Tyson Degenhart was Boise State’s (3-3) only scorer in double figures, posting 12 points along with seven rebounds. Jace Whiting added nine points for the Broncos, who struggled to score throughout, making just 21 of 65 shots from the field (32.3 percent), and 5 of 30 3-pointers (16.7 percent). O’Mar Stanley had eight points and six rebounds for Boise State.
Coming off a career-high 26 points in Butler’s win over Penn State on Friday, Brooks connected on 9 of 16 shots from the field and 4 of 7 3-pointers. Twenty of Brooks’ 25 points came after halftime, as he made 7 of his 8 shots in the second half.
Butler held Boise State to its lowest point total of the season and gave the Broncos their third loss in four games after they had won their first two games of the season.
After trailing by eight points at halftime, Boise State briefly cut the Butler lead to three on a Whiting 3-pointer at the 18:31 mark.
Butler then went on a 14-0 run that spanned 4:43 of game time, growing the Bulldog lead to 52-35.
In the first half, a Degenhart triple gave Boise State a 23-18 lead, its largest of the game, with 6:03 remaining in the first half.
Butler then finished the half on a 17-4 run to give the Bulldogs a 35-27 lead at intermission. Both teams struggled from beyond the 3-point line in the first half, with Butler making just 1 of 8 3-pointers and Boise State connecting on only 2 of its 14 attempts.
–Field Level Media
