INDIANAPOLIS — Andrew Smith scored 15 points, Kellen Dunham added 11 and No. 13 Butler used a stifling defense to pull away from Richmond for a 62-47 victory in its first Atlantic 10 Conference home game Wednesday night.
Butler (15-2, 3-0) heads into Saturday’s home showdown with No. 8 Gonzaga on a 12-game winning streak. The Bulldogs won despite losing their top scorer, Rotnei Clarke, who missed the game with a severely sprained neck and has already been ruled out of Saturday’s game.
Richmond (11-7, 1-2) was led by Darien Brothers with 12 points but has lost two straight and five of its past seven. The Spiders were playing without their second-leading scorer, Derrick Williams, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained ankle.
Four days after Clarke crashed head-first into a basket support at Dayton, the Bulldogs responded by digging down and doing the dirty work defensively.
Richmond came into the game averaging 71.2 points and shooting 45.4 percent from the field. It was nowhere close to that Wednesday. The Spiders started the game by going four of 22 from the field. By halftime, they were at 28.6 percent and finished at 32.7 percent.
Also on Wednesday:
Maryland 51
No. 14 N.C. State 50
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Alex Len dropped in a missed shot by teammate Pe’Shon Howard with 0.9 seconds left for Maryland (14-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which has won 10 of 11 against the Wolfpack (14-3, 3-1), including five straight at home.
UNLV 82
No. 15 San Diego State 75
SAN DIEGO — Anthony Marshall scored a season-high 20 points, and Justin Hawkins and Khem Birch scored off rebounds on consecutive possessions in the final 1:18 for UNLV (15-3, 2-1 Mountain West Conference). Jamaal Franklin had a game-high 27 points for the Aztecs (14-3, 2-1).
No. 16 Kansas State 67
TCU 54
FORT WORTH, Texas — Rodney McGruder scored 21 points and Kansas State (14-2, 3-0 Big 12) stretched its winning streak to seven games.
No. 17 Missouri 79
Georgia 62
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Earnest Ross scored 15 points to help Missouri (13-3, 2-1 SEC) rebound from its biggest loss of the season.
No. 18 Michigan State 81
Penn State 72
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Adreian Payne scored 20 points for the Spartans (15-3, 4-1 Big Ten) after spending the first half on the bench following a morning scuffle with Michigan State teammate Brandon Dawson.
No. 19 New Mexico 79
Boise State 74
BOISE, Idaho — Tony Snell scored 22 points and Hugh Greenwood added 15 to lead New Mexico (16-2, 3-0 Mountain West Conference) to the overtime win over Boise (13-3, 1-1).
No. 25 Marquette 69
Seton Hall 62
MILWAUKEE — Reserve forward Davante Gardner scored 17 points to lead Marquette (13-3, 4-0 Big East) over injury-depleted Seton Hall, which had just eight available players.
Washington 64
Colorado 54
SEATTLE — C.J. Wilcox continued his scoring binge in Pac-12 Conference play with 25 points, and Washington (12-5, 4-0) won with another stingy defensive effort. Spencer Dinwiddie led Colorado (11-6, 1-4) with 13 points.
Washington State 75
Utah 65
PULLMAN, Wash. — Mike Ladd had 22 points and hit five 3-pointers to lead five Washington State (10-7, 1-3 Pac-12) players scoring in double figures. Brandon Taylor had 13 points for the Utes (8-9, 0-5).
