Butler defeats No. 25 Mississippi State in the Arizona tournament final

Jaymyl Telfort scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and Pierre Brooks II scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Butler defeated No. 25 Mississippi State 87-77 in the Arizona Tip-Off championship game in Tempe. Arizona, on Friday evening.

Telfort hit 4 of 7 3-point attempts for Butler (6-1), helping the team win its fifth straight game. Landon Moore added 13 points and Andre Screen had six points, nine rebounds and four assists for Butler, which shot 52.8 percent from the floor, including 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Riley Kugel and Josh Hubbard each scored 22 points and Cameron Matthews and Michael Nwoko added 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Mississippi State (6-1). Mississippi State shot just 25.7 percent (7 of 27) from 3-point range and 37.7 percent from the floor.

Butler beat Mississippi State 44-33.

There were 11 lead changes and eight ties in the first half before Butler used a 12-6 run to extend the lead to 40-34 at halftime. Butler shot 45.8 percent from the floor and hit 7 of 12 3-point attempts (58.3 percent), while Mississippi State missed its first 11 shots from long range and ended the half 1:14 behind the arc (7). .1 percent).

Brooks led all scorers at the break with ten points to go and four rebounds. Telfort, who scored a team-high 23 points in Butler’s 71-69 semifinal win over Northwestern on Thursday, added eight points before halftime.

Butler extended its lead to 53-44 on a Patrick McCaffrey layup early in the second half, but Kugel kept Mississippi State within striking distance by scoring 12 straight points for his team to start the half.

Butler took its first double-digit lead at 65-55 after two free throws from Moore at 11:08 and then led 68-57 with a three-pointer from Brooks.

Mississippi State, behind two 3-pointers from Hubbard, then went on an 11-2 run to get within 70-68. But Butler, backed by five points from Brooks and two jumpers from Telfort, responded with an 11-2 run to regain the lead 81-70 with 2:46 left.

Mississippi State never got closer than eight points.

–Field level media