It was just a matter of time before Butler found its stroke, and when it did there was no way to stop it.
Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings or conference tournament nerves, but the Bulldogs started both the first and second halves shooting poorly before eventually catching fire and putting away Dayton 73-67 in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at Barclays Center.
In its first ever conference tournament game as a member of the A-10, Butler, normally one of the league’s better shooting squads, opened their first round contest against Dayton shooting just 5-for-17 and trailed the Flyers for the game’s first nine minutes.
“We came out a little passive at first,” Butler guard Rotnei Clarke said. “We weren’t aggressive enough, weren’t playing hard enough but then we got in the flow a little bit and shots started falling.”
Right as the shots started falling and that was when Butler (25-7, 11-5) opened the game up by hitting five of its next six shots, including four treys, to take a 30-22 lead with 4:21 left to play in the first half.
Dayton did not just roll over however. The Flyers, who drew Butler in the first round after losing a three-way tiebreaker with Saint Joseph’s and George Washington, were able to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 33-30 before the end of the half thanks to the frontcourt play of Josh Benson, Dyshawn Pierre and Jalen Robinson.
Senior guard Rotnei Clarke, the team’s leading scorer, led the way with 11 points for Butler in the first half. The sharpshooter was once again lights-out for the Bulldogs, finishing the game with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting (6-of-12 3pt) to lead all scorers.
“I give credit to my teammates and coach drew up good plays,” Clarke said. “They set great screens for me, they look for me when I’m open. It’s a really unselfish team.”
Butler forward Andrew Smith added 18 points.
The Flyers would again capitalize on poor shooting from the Bulldogs to open the second half and jump out to a 43-39 lead after Kevin Dillard (15 points) hit a layup and 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to force Butler coach Brad Stevens to call a timeout with 15:08 left on the clock.
“I thought it was a good timeout,” Dillard said. “I still felt like I had a good rhythm. That’s when [Butler] came out and it changed the momentum of the game.”
Then, just like in the game’s first 20 minutes, Butler started getting buckets.
Clarke and Kellen Dunham hit the Bulldogs’ next three 3-point attempts to get Bulter started. Just minutes later the game was put out of reach as Butler went on a 12-4 run to give itself a ten-point cushion.
“That got us stabilized,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “It gave us a little bit of a lead heading into the final ten minutes. I thought we started scoring in the paint a little bit more [too].”
Dayton (17-14, 7-9) was unable to make any significant dents into the Bulldogs’ lead over the last five-plus minutes of the contest. Benson led the Flyers with 18 points.
“It was do-or-die,” Benson said. “I’ve been coached well, and I always try and do anything to help my teammates out. I got in a good rhythm and the team was giving me the ball well.”
Butler will move on to face La Salle in the tournament’s second round on Friday afternoon.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com