Story and photo by Charles Chaney
Student Sports Media
LaJuan Hardy went to the rim and the shot fell off the glass and the Butler men’s basketball season did too. Butler fell to the Hutchinson Blue Dragons in the semi-finals of the Region VI tournament 105-103 on Tuesday, March 7 at Hartman Arena.
“I couldn’t think of a better group of guys to coach,” Butler Head Coach Bryan Miller said.
J.J. Rhymes missed a free throw and Hardy took the ball down the court with all his heat and heart. He rushed the rim, guarded by Hutch’s Semaje Haynes-Jones. Hardy, with 0.4 seconds, left fell into the hands of Antferene Adams as time expired.
“I should have just gone back to my fundamentals” Hardy said.
Hardy, a freshman, finished with 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-8 from three-point range. His second half heroics propelled the Grizzlies from a 12-point deficit into an 8-point lead in the second half.
“No. 3 [Hardy] is a handful,” Haynes-Jones said. “His ability to score is one of the best in the conference.”
When Butler needed it the most, Hardy was on fire. His back-to-back-to-back threes gave the Grizzlies the courage they needed to get back into the contest. He was the catalyst to Butler’s comeback.
“This group of guys are family,” Hardy said. “Love playing with these guys. I cannot wait to come back and do it again next year.”
The Grizzlies jumped out to a 20-9 lead with 14:50 left in the first quarter. A Johnnathan Lindsey three-pointer, followed by a Will Adler trey, put the Grizzlies out in front.
“You have to leave it all on the floor,” Adler said.
Hutch went on a 36-15 run, switching the lead to 45-35 with 4:03 left in the first half. The Grizzlies didn’t quit. Their resiliency, something that had been questioned all season, shown brightly when it mattered most.
Butler fought back, cutting it to a 51-43 deficit at halftime. After Hutch pushed it to their largest lead of 58-45 with 18:22 left in the contest, Butler fought back on a 23-8 run over the the next 6:18.
“We don’t care they were No. 1,” Lindsey said. “We wanted to win this game. This was the championship right here.”
Lindsey finished with 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting and 11 rebounds.
The Blue Dragons eventually fought off the Grizzlies and took the lead back on a Shakur Juiston dunk with 2:57 remaining. Butler would hit a three-pointer from Adler to tie it up at 100-all with 1:02 remaining.
Hutch’s Devonte Bandoo hit a wide open three from the right corner, putting Hutch up 104-101 with 28.2 seconds remaining.
“I love Butler and love my time here,” Jacolby Harris said. “I cannot imagine going anywehre else.”
Sophomore Emaj Hervey missed a lay up to tie the game with 14 seconds remaining. Hardy’s shot would fall off and thus would end the Grizzlies season.
“These sophomores mean so much to this team,” Miller said. “I’m sure going to miss them.”
Butler finishes the season 19-13 on the season and the second straight loss in the Region VI semi-finals.
