Bulldogs took the opening tip and both teams got off to a dry start with a couple of misses on both ends. Joe Gordon would take the lid off the basket with a pair of free throws to take an early 2-0 lead over the Bears. Trumbore would find an open Jake Chandler to knot the game up a 2-2. After a couple of 3 balls, the Bulldogs would find themselves ahead 8-4. Trumbore would finally be able to answer back with a trey of his own. After a brief bucket exchange, Dylan Davison would convert an and-one basket to give the Bears a 13-10 lead.
Trumbore would be fouled on a three ball attempt to open the second quarter, he was able to convert on all 3 throws from the stripe. Ferguson would answer with a corner 3, followed by Mallatt with a 3 to answer. The Bulldogs would go on an 8-2 run to close out the quarter and shrink the Butler advantage to 24-22 going into the locker rooms.
At the half, the Bulldogs were red hot from deep going 5/8 from range, while Butler found themselves struggling, shooting 29 percent from deep, and just 30 percent from the floor. Despite the scoring woes for the Bears, they still were able to take a lead into the break. Butler was able to combat some of their shooting issues by getting to the free line 12 times in the first half, converting 10 of those tries into points.
Out of the break, the Bulldogs had possession with a chance to tie or lead, and they would do just that off a put-back basket by McCullough. The basket by McCullough would spark a 6-2 run to take a 2 point lead. Carter drove to the basket to end the Bulldogs run and knot the score up at 28 a piece. Murry drove home a triple to go up 31-28 and kick off a 16-0 run in favor of the ‘dogs. The Bulldogs would find themselves up 44-28 before Trumbore would stop the bleeding by flushing home a three. The Bears would close out the quarter with a 5-0 run to narrow the deficit to single digits entering the 4th.
Going into the final, the Bulldogs sat atop with a score of 46-38. Trumbore began by getting to the line and sinking 2 before the Bulldogs would go on a 5-0 run. The run would be shut down out by Carter getting to the stripe once again to spark what would be a 7-0 Butler run. For the Bulldogs, Burley answered with a three to stay up 56-49. Mallatt drove home a high arching 3 pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 5, 57-52 with right at 2 and a half minutes left in the game. After another 7-0 Butler run, the place erupted as the Bears found themselves trailing by just 1, (57-56) with a minute and half left.
Out of a Butler timeout, Rotert would go to the line after Jake Chandler fouled out of the ballgame, Rotert went 1-2 to place the Bulldogs up by 2. After a miss on the Bears end, Ferguson would be fouled and go to the line where he went 2-2 to stretch the lead back to 4. Trumbore, with a heads up move, instantly drew a foul that sent him to the line as the Bears were in the bonus. Trumbore stayed perfect from the stripe, knocking down the pair and cutting the lead back down to just 2 with under a minute remaining. Turmbore would come up with a massive steal with 36 seconds left, and then get fouled and make a return trip to his favorite place, the free throw line. Carter had an opportunity to tie the game, and he did just that.
The score was 60-60 with just under 30 seconds to go in regulation. With 3 seconds left, Gordon went to the line for the ‘dogs with a chance for the go-ahead basket, he missed his first, but sunk his second to claim a 61-60 lead with 3 seconds on the clock. With the full length of the court to go, down 1, with mere seconds left, Coach Dawson for the Bears took a time-out to draw up the perfect play. Lucas Davison triggered the ball into his brother, Dylan, who was able to find Carter Trumbore streaking to the basket. Trumbore was calm, cool, and collected as he drove to the rack and layed in the game-winning shot at the buzzer. As the Bears took the W at the buzzer, the Bears Den went wild! The Bears win streak improved to 5 with the victory.
Carter Trumbore led all scoring with 36 points and 6 rebounds. Carter started off cold from the floor, but was able to go to the line 13 times to find his rhythm. Dylan Davidson had 11 points on the night with 6 boards as well. Jake Chandler had an efficient 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Kaleb Mallatt chipped in 6 points, hitting 2 massive deep balls as well.
The Bulldogs had 4 players in double figures scoring: Gordon had 16, Burley with 14, Ferguson tallied 13, and Murry had 12, going 4 of 4 from range.
