Insider: It wasn't pretty, but Butler compiling Big East wins

Butler got another victory on Tuesday night, beating St. John's 85-62 at Hinkle Fieldhouse and stretching its winning streak to four games.

Beyond that, it was hard to read much into it. It was fouls, fouls and more fouls. If you were a fan of beautiful, flowing play, maybe this was the night to stay home.

"It was certainly a strange game in a lot of ways," Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. "Can't say it was the strangest I've been a part of, but it was probably up there with all that happened."

There were 36 fouls, three technical fouls and one ejection – St. John's Chris Obekpa, a leading candidate for Big East Defensive Player of the Year. The opposing team had more offensive rebounds than Butler for just the sixth time this season. The Bulldogs had more turnovers than assists (14-13) for just the second time in eight games.

"It was different, just because of the chippiness," Butler's Alex Barlow said. "But that happens a lot in other games. If you look at other college games, there are technical fouls and a lot of fouls called like there were tonight.

"Like coach Holtmann said, you just have to adjust, because in the end, it only matters if you win or lose. It doesn't matter how the game flows."

Butler shot 56 percent from the field (31-for-55), the first time it shot over 50 percent during Big East play. Some of that was due to the absence of Obekpa, the Big East shot-block leader. (NBA scouts were on hand from Toronto, Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers; Obekpa was a big reason why.) He elbowed Butler's Tyler Wideman while the two were running down the court with 8:26 left in the first half.

Wideman, who missed part of preseason practice due to a concussion, was on the floor for more than a minute. The officials went to the monitor and assessed the 6-9 Opekpa a flagrant 2 foul, which leads to an automatic ejection.

"He is one of the best rim protectors in the country," Holtmann said. "That certainly gave us the opportunity to attack inside. We wanted as many paint touches as we could. We felt like we could put that in there with him out."

Butler led 15-9 at the time of Obekpa's ejection. Andrew Chrabascz hit the two ensuing free throws and Austin Etherington scored on the next possession to stretch the lead to 19-9. Butler led 36-28 at the break.

The Bulldogs (17-6, 7-3 Big East) opened the second half with a 14-2 run that put the game away. It included a technical foul on St. John's Sir'Dominic Pointer after he argued a foul call. Butler's Kellen Dunham hit all five free throws to stretch the lead to 50-30 with 16:28 left.

(Side note: Butler went 19-for-25 from the line on Tuesday night. Since starting 4-for-15 against Seton Hal on Jan. 25, the Bulldogs are 48-for-59 from the line, or 81.3 percent).

St. John's (14-8, 3-6) was late getting into Indianapolis because of travel delays and did not have a shootaround at Hinkle on Tuesday, but coach Steve Lavin said that wasn't the problem.

"They sustained their effort and execution throughout the entire game," Lavin said of Butler. "With that said, we were disappointed with our poise, with our composure in a tough environment against a good team. We did not answer the bell."

Lavin and Holtmann each said they didn't see Obekpa's thrown elbow, although it was obvious on video. Lavin said he "trusted the officials' judgment" and Holtmann said his assistant coaches saw it and thought he would be ejected. Wideman was cleared to return and played briefly in the second half.

He was one of nine Butler players to score, led by Dunham's 21 points. Barlow added 15 points and Kameron Woods had 12 rebounds, giving him 30 in the past two games. St. John's cut the deficit to 63-55 on Felix Balamou's layup with 8:20 remaining, but one never got the sense the Bulldogs were in trouble. They never trailed and outscored the Red Storm 22-7 the rest of the way.

"I was impressed, for the most part, with our guys' poise in a game that was choppy and a little difficult to get into a rhythm," Holtmann said. "I thought our opening stretch in the second half was really important. It went from an 8-point to a 15-point and eventually to a 20-point lead and gave us a little bit of breathing room."

Follow Star reporter Michael Pointer on Twitter: @michaelpointer.

No. 22 BUTLER 85, ST. JOHN'S 62

FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Obekpa 9 0-1 0-2 1-2 0 1 0 Pointer 35 7-15 5-6 4-6 0 4 19 Greene IV 34 2-6 0-0 1-4 0 2 6 Harrison 28 2-6 6-8 1-4 1 5 10 Jordan 38 6-21 4-7 1-4 4 1 17 Branch 19 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Stewart 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jones 4 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 2 Balamou 17 3-3 0-0 0-1 0 1 6 Alibegovic 8 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 2 0 J De La Rosa 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 200 22-59 15-23 11-28 5 17 62

Percentages: FG .373, FT .652.

3-Point Goals: 3-18, .167 (Greene IV 2-3, Jordan 1-7, Alibegovic 0-1, Pointer 0-2, Harrison 0-2, Branch 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 2.

Blocked Shots: 4 (Pointer 2, Jordan, Obekpa).

Turnovers: 13 (Jordan 3, Harrison 3, Branch 2, Obekpa, Alibegovic, Greene IV, Balamou).

Steals: 3 (Pointer, Obekpa, Balamou).

Technical Fouls: Pointer.

FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Jones 36 6-12 1-2 0-2 4 2 13 Woods 31 3-5 3-4 2-12 3 4 9 Chrabascz 30 5-9 4-5 3-7 1 4 14 Barlow 35 5-5 3-5 0-5 3 1 15 Dunham 35 6-12 7-7 2-7 0 2 21 Etherington 13 1-5 0-0 1-1 1 2 2 Wideman 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 Aldridge 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Davis 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 Bennett 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Martin 11 3-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 7 Totals 200 31-55 19-25 9-40 13 19 85

Percentages: FG .564, FT .760.

3-Point Goals: 4-11, .364 (Barlow 2-2, Dunham 2-6, Chrabascz 0-1, Etherington 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 5.

Blocked Shots: 1 (Etherington).

Turnovers: 14 (Jones 6, Chrabascz 2, Martin, Dunham, Wideman, Barlow, Etherington, Woods).

Steals: 5 (Barlow 2, Woods 2, Chrabascz).

Technical Fouls: Etherington.

St. John's 28 34 — 62 Butler 36 49 — 85

A—7,132.

Officials—Michael Stephans, James Breeding, Paul Szelc.