#23 Butler, Wright State Record Wins on Entertaining Tuesday Night

INDIANAPOLIS -- In four highly entertaining games on Tuesday, the Horizon League emerged with two victories as Butler and Wright State both registered wins.

Returning its BracketBusters game from last February, Butler went to Siena and held off the Saints, 70-57, at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.  Losing starting point guard Ronald Nored in the opening minutes of play, the Bulldogs used a double-double from Matt Howard and 38 points off the bench to get past Siena.

Howard posted his second straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Shawn Vanzant came off the bench to finish with 12 points.  Chase Stigall had a season-high nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, and Andrew Smith chipped in eight points and seven boards for the Bulldogs, who moved to 3-1 on the year.

Playing its second home game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge, Wright State went back and forth with defending Summit League champion Oakland, taking the lead for good with just over a minute remaining in an 82-78 win over the Golden Grizzlies.

In a game that featured 12 lead changes and nine ties, a Vaughn Duggins layup with just over 60 ticks left gave the Raiders the lead, and the senior provided two free throws after a defensive stand to put the Raiders up three.  After an Oakland bucket, Duggins knocked down two more freebies, and Wright State survived the Grizzlies' three-point attempt as time expired.

Duggins led the way with 23 poins on 8-for-15 shooting, while Cooper Land and Troy Tabler each had 17 points.  Matt Vest came off the bench to post 15 points on 6-of-7 field goals a game after going 9-for-10.

In Athens, Ohio, Valparaiso staged a spirited first-half comeback to take a 32-31 halftime lead, but came up three points short in a 78-75 loss to Ohio.  Down 27-12 with seven minutes left in the first stanza, the Crusaders closed the half on a 19-4 run to take their first lead of the game.

Valpo took its last lead with 3:50 to go in the game on a Howard Little layup, but stayed within a possession down the stretch, just falling shy of overtime as Brandon Wood's three-point attempt at the horn missed.

Wood had 17 points for the Crusaders, while Ryan Broekhoff knocked down 9-of-13 attempts to finish with a team-best 24 points.  Cory Johnson added 19 points for Valpo in his return from injury.

Playing at the Klotsche Center for the first time in seven years, Milwaukee shot 28.3-percent from the floor in falling to Western Michigan, 67-55, on Retro Night.  Down just three at the half, Western Michigan shot a torrid 68.2-percent in the game's final 20 minutes to pull away from the Panthers.

Tone Boyle and Anthony Hill did their best to carry the Panthers, finishing with 16 and 15 points, respectively, but Milwaukee could not get over a night in which they hit just 18-of-62 field goal attempts.