INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Khyle Marshall scored 16 of his career-high 26 points in the final seven minutes Tuesday night, leading Butler past Vanderbilt 85-77 in overtime.
Kellen Dunham added 16 points for the Bulldogs, who won for the 22nd time in 25 games at Hinkle Fieldhouse — though few have been this challenging.
Butler led 61-47 with 7:43 left in regulation and appeared bound for an easy win.
But the Commodores (2-1) went on a 15-2 run to trim the deficit to one and took the lead when Eric McClellan completed a three-point play with 53.8 seconds to go. Marshall gave Butler the lead with a layup, and then after McClellan tied it with a free throw, he missed the second free throw and was called for a travel. Dunham missed a running 3-pointer at the buzzer.
But Marshall dominated overtime as the Bulldogs pulled away.
McClellan finished with a career-high 29 points.
The Commodores fell to 0-5 all-time against Butler on one of the strangest nights in recent memory at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The teams combined for 54 fouls and traded scoring flurries all night.
Dunham was held scoreless for nearly 9 1/2 minutes before going on a 3-point binge and then fading from view over the closing stretch. The oddest play of the night might have been when Butler’s Kameron Woods came up with a loose ball on the defensive end and the 6-foot-9 forward dribbled coast to coast and went in for a one-handed dunk that appeared to get batted out of the basket as it was going through the net — ruled a miss.
But nothing was stranger than the Commodores comeback.
They trailed by 14 three different times in the second half and spent most of the night in foul trouble, yet somehow dug deep to shut down Butler’s outside scorers over the final seven minutes of regulation.
Meanwhile, the Commodores continually drove to the basket, scoring, drawing fouls — or both — leading to the 15-2 run.
Vandy finally took its first lead, 69-68, in nearly 23 minutes when McClellan converted the late three-point play.
Marshall answered with a layup to give Butler a 70-69 lead, and after Woods was called for a foul with 11.1 seconds left, McClellan grabbed the rebound off the missed free throw and was called for traveling. That gave Dunham a chance to win it with a running 3-pointer, which fell short.
In overtime, it was all Marshall, who gave Butler the lead for good on a short jumper in the lane with 4:26 left. Marshall scored nine of Butler’s 16 points.
