Butler, Valparaiso Lay Claim to League Lead with Road Wins

A day after home teams recorded wins in the Horizon League, Butler and Valparaiso picked up double-digit road wins on Friday night, moving into first place in the conference.

Trailing by seven at the half, Valpraiso (13-5, 5-1 Horizon) held Wright State (11-7, 4-2 Horizon) to just two field goals in the first 18 minutes of the second half, pulling away for a 71-60 win at the WSU Nutter Center.  The Crusaders trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half as Wright State shot 68 percent (17-of-25) in the opening 20 minutes.  But Valpo earned its fifth comeback victory of the year when trailing by double figures with a superb defensive effort in the second stanza, giving up just a 3-pointer and a putback basket in the first 18 minutes.  In all in the second half, Valpo held WSU to 18.2% (4-of-22) shooting, including just a 1-of-11 (9.1%) clip from behind the arc.

Offensively, Brandon Wood led the Crusaders, scoring 24 of his 26 points over a 12 minute span during the two halves, shooting 10-of-11 from the floor and taking Valpo from down 29-17 with 6:30 to go in the first half to up 49-43 with 14:19 to play in the game.

Vaughn Duggins and N'Gai Evans each had 19 for the Raiders, while Cooper Land chipped in 14, as Wright State saw its 13-game home court winning streak snapped.

Wright State will host Butler (13-5, 5-1 Horizon) at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday on ESPN3.com, after the Bulldogs rolled past Detroit (10-8, 4-2 Horizon), 87-64, at Calihan Hall.  Trailing by four early, Matt Howard drained three of his career-high five three-pointers to fuel a 22-4 Butler run that put the Bulldogs in control.  Howard finished with 17 points and six boards, leading five Bulldogs in double figures.

The trio of Howard, Andrew Smith and Khyle Marshall combined for 48 of Butler's 87 points, with Marshall tallying a career-best 16; Smith added 15, moving into first place in field-goal percentage in the Horizon League.  Shawn Vanzant and Shelvin Mack rounded out Butler's double-digit scorers, finishing with 14 and 10, respectively.

Chase Simon paced Detroit with 19 points, while Chris Blake finished with a career-best 15.  The Titans will host Valpo at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday; the contest will be carried by Fox Sports Detroit.