Butler men to host Garden City in Wednesday's Region VI opener

The Butler men's basketball team begins its run at a Region VI crown when they host Garden City in Wednesday's opening-round game at 7:00 p.m.

Entering this week's NJCAA rankings for the first time this season at No. 25, Butler (22-7 overall, 15-5 conference) looks to rebound from a 77-73 loss in Saturday's regular-season finale at Coffeyville, which snapped a season-high six-game winning streak.

Butler opens postseason play as the No. 3 overall seed in the Region VI Tournament, having secured the spot after clinching the Jayhawk East runner-up slot with last Wednesday's win over then-No. 5 Cowley.

"We've had a great season to this point," said Butler head coach Kyle Fisher, who is in his first year with the Grizzlies after spending seven seasons as an assistant at Coffeyville. "We've got a really good seed for the region tournament… but nobody seems to be satisfied where we are now. We still feel like we have more to accomplish and in the next few days, we'll have an opportunity to prove it."

Butler won its lone regular season meeting against Garden City in a 78-73 road contest back on Jan. 20. Marque English and Kamron Brice scored 16 points each for Butler, who led 39-23 at the break. The Grizzlies led by as many as 19 early in the second half, then held off a late Garden rally in the final minute for the win.

"Garden City is a real talented team," Fisher said. "They are a very capable, dangerous, offensive team and they're healthy. When we played them the first time, they were bitten by the flu bug, so they were missing a couple guys."

Garden City (9-21, 3-18) enters Region VI play as the No. 14 seed after finishing seventh in the Jayhawk West under second-year head coach Patrick Nee.  After opening the season 7-3 which included a conference opening win over Cloud County, the Broncbusters have won just two of their last 20 contests – both against Northwest Kansas Tech – and have lost four consecutive games.

Busters freshman guard Tahlik Chavez leads the KJCCC in scoring with 20.5 points per game and has four games with 30 points or more. Chavez dropped a season-high 42 points back on Feb. 15 in a 100-98 road loss at Dodge City.

Garden City comes into Wednesday's matchup with Butler after a 101-80 loss at Barton last Saturday. Sophomore forward Traylynn Spencer led the Busters with 18 points, while Chavez added 16 points and six assists in the loss.

In the meeting against Butler, both Chavez and freshman forward Michael Frazier scored 21 points each.

On the season, Butler averages 85.4 points per game and has five players averaging in double figures, led by sophomore guard Grehlon Easter (14.8 ppg). Along with Easter, freshman guard Javaunte Hawkins (13.7 ppg) and forward Marque English (12.1 ppg, 50.2 FG%, 6.5 rpg) are part of a trio that has played in all 29 games for the Grizzlies this season.

One of the top defenses in the Jayhawk Conference, Butler is tied for the league lead in field goal percentage allowed (39.1 percent) and ranks fourth in points allowed per game (73.2).

With a Butler win, the Grizzlies would advance to Sunday's Region VI quarterfinal round at Dodge City's United Wireless Arena. Butler would face the winner between No. 6 Pratt and No. 11 Neosho County at 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday's opening round game can be seen live online at http://butlergrizzlies.com/watchlive and heard on KFH 97.5 FM/1240 AM, beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.