Butler's Career Night Leads Dragons Past Niagara

Friday, November 8

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7 p.m.

Drexel University

1-1,0-0CAA

Niagara

0-1,0-0MAAC

Niagara

Drexel

Photo by: Gavin Baker

Butler's Career Night Leads Dragons Past Niagara

11/8/2019 9:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - James Butler scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Drexel downed Niagara in its home opener at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, 72-64. The Dragons shot 55 percent in the game and picked up their first win of the season. Niagara dropped its season opener. More details to follow.

ICYMI: James Butler reached the 20-point plateau for the 1st time in his career in last night's 72-64 win over Niagara pic.twitter.com/taz0iFAAAd
— Drexel Men's Basketball (@DrexelMBB) November 9, 2019

HIGHLIGHTS
-Butler grabbed 15 rebounds for the second time this season in the first 20-point, 10-rebound game of his Drexel career. He hauled in a game-best four offensive rebounds against the Purple Eagles. Butler upped his game in the second with 14 points and 11 boards on 6-of-7 shooting.

-Freshman T.J. Bickerstaff scored 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting for the Dragons and has topped double digits in scoring in both games this season. He also grabbed seven rebounds against Niagara after doing the same at Temple.

-Fellow freshman Mate Okros joined Butler and Bickerstaff in double figures with a season-best 11 points. He made a game-high three three-pointers on 60-percent shooting from downtown. All 11 of Okros' points came in the second period.

-Camren Wynter barely missed out on matching his personal best in assists. The reigning CAA Rookie of the Year tallied nine helpers on Friday night, one short of his career high.

GAMEPLAY
Drexel and Niagara traded big runs in the first half, and the Purple Eagles entered the break up 32-31. Niagara went on a 13-2 run over five minutes of game time to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 21-13 advantage. The Dragons countered by scoring the next eight to knot the score. Drexel's run eventually reached 13-2 when Matey Juric stole the ball and found Bickerstaff in the open court for a layup to make the score 26-23 in favor of the home side.

A Zach Walton trey with two minutes to play in the half gave Drexel its largest lead of the period at 31-27, but Niagara closed out with five-straight points. Walton finished with seven points and three assists.

The Dragons shook off a cold start to the game to shoot 54.2 percent in the first half. After making just one-third of its shots in the first 11 minutes, Drexel made nine of its last 12 attempts from the field.

The hosts upped their accuracy in the second half while buckling down on defense. The Dragons made 14 of their 25 field goals in the second (56 percent) and limited Niagara to 41.2 percent shooting – nearly nine percentage points lower than in the first half.

Both sides played within three points of one another for the first 10-plus minutes of the second. Niagara built a 48-44 lead with 9:22 to play, but the Dragons scored the next seven. After the Purple Eagles slashed the deficit to one at 51-50, Drexel responded with its heaviest punch of the night – a 9-0 run to push the lead to double digits for the first time in the game. Okros blew the game open with three-pointers on consecutive possessions. His second trey made the score 60-50 and forced a timeout from the Purple Eagles.

Mate Okros hits back-to-back 3-pointers, and all of a sudden the Dragons are ahead by 10, 60-50

Niagara calls timeout with 6:43 to play pic.twitter.com/0xnAzGeW0S
— Drexel Men's Basketball (@DrexelMBB) November 9, 2019

A Butler dunk with four minutes to play gave the Dragons their largest lead of the game at 64-53. From there, Drexel did enough to hold off Niagara and seal its first win of the season.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS
-Drexel shot 55.1 percent from the floor for the game, making 27 of its 49 field goals. The Dragons made eight treys at a 44.4-percent clip. However, DU struggled at the foul line, going 10-for-19.

-The Dragons locked down the three-point line in the second half, holding the Purple Eagles to one three-point basket out of five attempts.

-Drexel owned a 35-26 edge in the rebounding battle. The Dragons scored 11 second-change points while holding Niagara scoreless in the same category.

-DU ran circles around the Purple Eagles, outscoring its opponent by a 23-2 margin in transition.

WHAT'S NEXT
Drexel follows up Friday's thrilling victory by hosting Abilene Christian on Sunday at 2 p.m. After that, the Dragons take to the road for games at Rutgers (Nov. 13) and Stephen F. Austin (Nov. 16).