Chuck Harris, Butler shoot down Tennessee Tech

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.