Grizzly men win Region VI opener over Garden City

_{Juwan White scored a game-high 17 points, while Shawn Hopkins added 16 points and eight rebounds as No. 25 Butler defeated Garden City in Wednesday's Region VI men's opening round contest at the Power Plant.}

_{With the win, Butler (23-7 overall) advances to the quarterfinal round for the first time in three seasons and will face Neosho County (12-19) on Sunday, March 1, who knocked off No. 6 Pratt 104-90. Butler swept the season series beginning with an 81-67 home win on Jan. 22, then earning the sweep with a 100-67 thrashing of the Panthers in the Feb. 12 return meeting down in Chanute. Tipoff from Dodge City's United Wireless Arena is at 5:00 p.m.}

_{Despite being held to a season-low 28 points in the opening half against Garden, Grizzlies maintained a 10-point halftime lead due to limiting the Broncbusters to 16 points on just 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from the field.}

_{Butler benefited from a 53.3 percent shooting clip in the second half, as White and Grehlon Easter combined to score 30 of the Grizzlies' 48 points. White, who scored all 17 of his points in the second half, picked up two early fouls and was just limited to four minutes in the opening half.}

_{"To hold a team to 16 points and 25 percent, that's really doing the job on the defensive end," said Butler head coach Kyle Fisher. "We certainly weren't in sync on the offensive end and not having Juwan on the floor made a big difference for us in the first half, but to have a 10-point lead and not play our best offensively, we were okay with that. I felt like we'd settle in and start making some shots and eventually we did, which allowed us to separate late."}

_{Garden managed just two field goals in the final 11:58 of the first half, while Butler built a 28-16 lead at the break. The Grizzlies managed only four field goals in the opening 11:22 of play, but Hopkins helped break the skid with six of his 10 first-half points during a Grizzly 10-0 run to help Butler take a lead it would never relinquish.}

_{Up 34-26 with 16:08 to play, Butler used a 19-7 run to pull away from the Broncbusters. White scored 11 straight points in a three-minute stretch, connecting on a 3-pointer at the 13:52 mark, then adding a 3-point play following a Garden basket. After making the bonus shot, White followed with a steal in the backcourt and layup, then added two more foul shots as Butler extended its lead to 47-30 with 12:38 remaining.}

_{"You never really know how a guy will respond to only playing two minutes in the first half," Fisher said of White's play. "He made an immediate impact, getting in the paint and finding guys. Not only did he score, but he made the extra pass. He really bailed us out in the second half."}

_{Butler pushed the margin to 20 points just moments later, as Garden's Tahlik Chavez was whistled for a technical foul following a tie-up with Javaunte Hawkins. After making both tech shots, Hawkins added a 3-pointer to give the Grizzlies a 53-33 advantage.}

_{Chavez pulled Garden back within 10 at 56-46 with 6:42 to play, as he scored seven consecutive points during a Busters 13-3 run. However, Garden City failed to cut the deficit under double digits, making just three field goals the rest of the way.}

_{Chavez, the Jayhawk Conference's leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, was held to just four points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half. Chavez led Garden with 17 points, while Traylynn Spencer finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.}

_{Garden (9-22) ends its season by losing 17 of its final 19 games, including its final five contests.}

_{Butler had its season-high six-game winning streak snapped in Saturday's regular-season finale at Coffeyville, but the Grizzlies avoided consecutive losses with Wednesday's win.}

_{"We've gone all year without losing two in a row," Fisher said. "We've been a really good bounce-back team and that's incredibly hard to do in the Jayhawk Conference, but there's a saying this time of year of 'survive and advance.' Even when you're not playing well and not making shots, you've got to have the toughness to hang in there, defend and rebound. Obviously, we did that. Hopefully we've got that out of our system and we'll get back to rolling like we have all month long."}