Bratton's career night leads Butler past Allen, 90-65

The Butler men broke out of their slump in a big way on Wednesday, handling Allen County in a 90-65 win at the Power Plant.

The win snaps a four-game losing streak and also avenges an earlier road loss to Allen County in November.

Butler had five players in double figures, led by Anthony Bratton with a career-high 21 points. He also had a career-high 16 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.

Butler fell behind 5-0 early on, but rallied to take a 12-11 lead after a Kettarious Bouchum layup with 13:02 left in the first half. Butler would not relinquish the lead again.

Butler pushed the lead to double digits when Karlon McSpadden scored on a layup with 9:25 left in the half that made it a 21-11 game.

Later in the half, Tevin Berry and Jared Armstrong made back-to-back 3-pointers to put Butler up 28-16 with 5:18 to play.

Allen County would score the final nine points of the first half, getting within three points at the break at 33-30.

Butler started strong in the second half, outscoring Allen County 13-5. Butler went up 46-35 after Armstrong nailed a 3-pointer with 15:35 to go.

Allen was still within 12 points after Tyler Williams hit a 3-pointer with 7:48 to play that made it 65-53. Butler, however, would outscore Allen 35-12 the rest of the way.

The lead hit 20 on a Tevin Berry 3-pointer that made it 75-55 with 5:12 to go. Butler's biggest lead was 27 points before winning by 25.

In addition to Bratton's 21 points, Butler got 16 from Jared Armstrong, 15 from Russell Smith, 12 from Justin Criddle and 10 from Karlon McSpadden.

Butler is now 9-12 overall and 6-12 in Jayhawk Conference play. The Grizzlies go to Independence on Saturday before returning home to play Dodge City next Wednesday.