Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Chuck Harris set career highs with six 3-pointers and 32 points, and Butler scored 20 of the game's final 27 points to post an 80-66 win over visiting Tennessee Tech on Saturday in Indianapolis.

Manny Bates added 17 points for the Bulldogs (6-3), who shot 50.9 percent from the field made nine 3-pointers.

Harris made 10 of 16 shots from the floor and hit all but two of his 3-point attempts for Butler, which saw its 14-point lead whittled to four at intermission.

The Bulldogs stayed in front but struggled to put away Tennessee Tech (3-6). Brett Thompson's 3-pointer and a Jayvis Harvey layup got the Golden Eagles within 60-59 with 8:38 to play.

Eric Hunter Jr. (12 points) immediately followed with a 3-pointer for Butler, which scored the next seven points.

Thanks to more contributions from Harris and Bates, the Bulldogs closed on that 20-7 run to improve to 5-0 this season at home, where they've won 69 of the last 71 against non-conference opponents.

Harvey scored 16 points, Ty Perry added 14 and Nolan Causwell contributed 12 for Tennessee Tech, which went 6-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half after going 2-for-12 in the first.

The first half was a game of streaks.

Nine points from Harris highlighted a 17-2 spurt that put Butler ahead 22-8 with 11:09 remaining in the opening half. However, the Golden Eagles got back into the contest with a 14-3 surge of their own.

Five more points from Harris keyed a 9-0 run for the Bulldogs to regain some breathing room. But, again, Tennessee Tech wouldn't fold, and closed the first half on an 11-3 spurt, paced by five points from Harvey.

Despite its poor 3-point shooting in the first half, Tennessee Tech held a 22-15 advantage on the boards and outscored Butler 9-0 on second-chance points in the opening 20 minutes.

More must-reads:

TODAY'S BEST
Broncos release former Super Bowl champion WR
Former NBA big man sentenced to 40 months in prison
Peyton Manning reveals Bill Belichick's role on 'ManningCast' for this season
ESPN has big plans for Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut
NBA Hall of Famer questions Knicks longevity in face of high playoff workloads
Falcons rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. details first interaction with Kirk Cousins
Insider reveals Mike Budenholzer's humongous contract figures to be Suns HC
Watch: Novak Djokovic accidentally struck, knocked down by metal water bottle
Legendary Cowboys HC clarifies misunderstanding regarding HOFer's death with same name
Raiders HC names leader in Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew competition
Oilers star will be game-time decision for Game 2
Former MLB infielder Sean Burroughs dies at 43 years old
Angels superstar explains why he chose not to play through knee injury
Cardinals catcher's injury timeline revealed
Suns hire ex-NBA champion as new head coach
Frank Vogel fell victim to a Suns ownership group eager to win
Luka Doncic hands OKC first playoff loss with gutsy Game 2 effort
Three takeaways as Rangers take commanding 3-0 series lead on Hurricanes
Rams make surprising move with former team captain
Ohio State AD is wrong for thinking Michigan wins deserve asterisk

Want more sports news?

Join the hundreds of thousands of fans who start their day with Yardbarker's Morning Bark, the best newsletter in sports.