Butler Shoots Its Way Past Cleveland St.

Butler's eye-popping shooting display had Cleveland State coach Gary Waters struggling to describe the 10th-ranked Bulldogs' offensive efficiency. Pete Campbell shot 8-for-11 from 3-point range

Friday, February 9th 2007, 7:03 am

By: News On 6

Butler's eye-popping shooting display had Cleveland State coach Gary Waters struggling to describe the 10th-ranked Bulldogs' offensive efficiency. Pete Campbell shot 8-for-11 from 3-point range and finished with 28 points in Butler's 92-50 win over Cleveland State on Thursday night.

Ranked higher in The Associated Press poll than at any time in school history, Butler (23-2, 11-1) extended its winning streak to nine in a row. The Bulldogs made a school record 20 3s and also set Horizon League and arena records.

``It was one of the best displays of shooting I've ever seen,'' Waters said. ``I've seen one guy get in the zone, but the whole team in a zone? I want to say it was embarrassing, but we contested most of those shots, and they went in.''

Butler, which knocked off Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga earlier this season, dominated the overmatched Vikings (8-18, 2-11) from the opening tip. Mike Green added 14 points, Brandon Crone 13 and A.J. Graves 12 for the Bulldogs, who set season highs in points, field goals, assists and margin of victory.

``On any given night, we're capable of that,'' Butler coach Todd Lickliter said. ``Pete's a great shooter, but it goes back to guys sharing the basketball.''

In other Top 25 games, it was: No. 8 Memphis 70, UAB 56; No. 12 Nevada 81, Fresno State 68; No. 13 Oregon 55, Arizona State 51; No. 14 Washington State 58, No. 25 Stanford 45; and No. 24 Arizona 72, Oregon State 66.

J'Nathan Bullock scored 18 points and Victor Morris 12 to lead the Vikings.

Campbell came off the bench with 14:43 left in the first half.

By the time Lickliter subbed for him just 6 minutes later, the 6-foot-7 junior, who began his college career at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, hit five consecutive 3s _ each one tickling the bottom of the net _ to help the Bulldogs open a 29-8 lead.

``A lot of them were really good looks,'' Campbell said. ``We moved the ball extremely well, that was the key to starting off well. It just seems like a lot of my shots are open, and I'm just doing my best to knock them down.''

No. 8 Memphis 70, UAB 56

At Birmingham, Ala., Jeremy Hunt scored a career-high 30 points and Memphis limited UAB to 31 percent shooting.

The Tigers (20-3, 10-0 Conference USA) blew the game open by going on a 24-5 run starting late in the first half for their 12th consecutive victory.

Paul Delaney led UAB (11-12, 3-6) with 18 points, but made just three of 13 shots. He was 12-of-14 from the free-throw line.

No. 12 Nevada 81, Fresno State 68

At Fresno, Calif., Nick Fazekas had a season-high 33 points and keyed a big run to open the second half that carried Nevada to a victory over Fresno State.

Kyle Shiloh added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and the Wolf Pack (22-2, 10-1 Western Athletic Conference) dominated the boards to win for the 15th time in 16 games. Fazekas had 15 rebounds as Nevada outrebounded Fresno State (16-8, 5-6) 53-25.

Fazekas scored the first two baskets of the second half to extend a two-point lead and had nine points in all in a 14-4 run that gave the Wolf Pack a 54-42 lead.

No. 13 Oregon 55, Arizona St 51

At Eugene, Ore., Tajuan Porter scored 24 points and Oregon held on to beat Arizona State.

Porter was 8-for-12 from the field with six 3-pointers for Oregon (20-4, 8-4 Pac-10), which scored its fewest points of the season.

Aaron Brooks, who started the game as the Pac-10's leading scorer at 20.8 points, equaled his season low with five points on 1-of-8 shooting.

The Sun Devils (6-17, 0-12) rallied in the second half. They outscored Oregon 21-9 in the first 10:26, with 18 of those points coming off six 3-pointers. Derek Glasser made four 3s himself, including one at the 9:33 mark to tie it at 42.

No. 14 Washington State 58, No. 25 Stanford 45

At Pullman, Wash., Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver each scored 12 points and Washington State used smothering defense to beat Stanford and reach 20 wins for the first time since the 1993-94 season.

Ivory Clark scored 11 points and Robbie Cowgill 10 as Washington State (20-4, 9-3 Pac-10) remained second in the conference.

Stanford (15-7, 7-4) shot just 28 percent, had 12 shots blocked and 15 turnovers in posting a season-low score. The Cardinal, who came in averaging 72 points, were led by Brook Lopez's 13 points.

No. 24 Arizona 72, Oregon State 66

At Corvallis, Ore., Marcus Williams scored 23 points for Arizona.

Ivan Radenovic had 19 points, making 13 of 16 free throws, and Jordan Hill added 12 points and 11 rebounds in his fourth start for the Wildcats (16-7, 7-5 Pac-10).

Sasa Cuic had a career-high 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting to lead Oregon State (9-16, 1-11), which has dropped seven games in a row and appears to be on its way to a 16th non-winning season in 17 years.