Murray State got awfully close to a second straight bracket-busting upset before Butler reminded the Racers which small school almost always plays big in March.
Ronald Nored's three-point play snapped a tie with 25.4 seconds left, and Butler narrowly evaded a second stunner by the 13th-seeded Racers in three days, advancing to the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament with a 54-52 victory Saturday.
Nored scored 15 points and Gordon Hayward had 12 before making the decisive defensive play for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (30-4), who extended the nation's longest winning streak to 22 games.
Butler advanced to the round of 16 for the second time in four years -- but only after surviving a thriller against the undersized but big-hearted Racers (31-5), who beat fourth-seeded Vanderbilt in the first round on a buzzer-beater
In next week's West Regional semifinals in Salt Lake City, Butler will face the winner of top-seeded Syracuse's meeting with Gonzaga on Sunday.
Isaiah Canaan scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers for the Racers, who matched Butler's sturdy defense and outrebounded the Bulldogs 39-22.
After Butler's Matt Howard made one of two free throws with 17.2 seconds left, Murray State had a chance to set up for a final shot -- but instead of creating a new play during a timeout, as the Racers did before Danero Thomas' jumper beat Vandy, Murray State simply got the ball to Canaan.
The guard was double-teamed, and his frantic attempt at a perimeter pass went off Hayward's hand and rolled into the backcourt, setting off a celebration down near Butler's bench.
Thomas, whose 15-footer beat Vanderbilt 66-65, was held scoreless by the Bulldogs in 26 minutes.
The early second-round game at the Shark Tank matched two teams with a combined 41-1 record in 2010, both carrying rich basketball traditions from smallish schools. Although the Racers were compelling candidates to carry the small-school banner into the tournament's second weekend, Butler has been doing it for years -- and with an enrollment that's less than half of Murray State's 10,500.
Still, Murray State got agonizingly close to its first-ever trip to the regional semifinals before Butler finally showed its hard-earned poise from several years as the cream of the mid-majors.
Murray State trailed 46-38 with 6 minutes to play after a 9-0 run by Butler, but the Racers came back with a 10-1 run, including Canaan's go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:50 left. Butler went scoreless for nearly three minutes until finally replying, tying it on Shelvin Mack's jumper with 1:22 left.
After Nored converted his three-point play on a strong drive to the hoop, Isacc Miles hit two free throws for Murray State with 21 seconds left.
Butler missed its first five shots and didn't score in the first 3 1/2 minutes. After jumping to a 12-3 lead, the Bulldogs again went cold during a 4-for-18 slump, going scoreless over the final 6:24 before halftime.
Murray State scored 11 straight points spanning halftime, taking the lead on Ed Daniel's rebound dunk. Donte Poole hit a long 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to put the Racers up 26-22 over Butler, which also trailed UTEP at halftime in the first round.
Butler missed eight straight shots and committed three turnovers over 7 1/2 minutes before Willie Veasley's 3-pointer early in the second half, but still found more trouble when Howard picked up his fourth foul in the opening minutes.
Notes:
With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the Sweet 16 next week in Salt Lake City, Utah, against the winner of Sunday's Syracuse-Gonzaga game. It will be Butler's third trip to the Sweet 16 since 2003.
Horizon League teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 four times in the last eight years (Butler 2003, '07, '10; Milwaukee '05)
Tags: Butler - Men's Basketball
