Jahmyl Telfort scored nine of his 23 points in the final 6:12 to help Butler to a 71-69 victory over Northwestern in an Arizona Tip-Off semifinal Thursday night in Tempe, Arizona.

After Boden Kapke sank a free throw with 5.8 seconds left to give Butler a two-point lead, Brooks Barnhizer drove the length of the court and his game-winning layup rolled off the iron – with Nick Martinelli’s tip a split second before Horn curled around the inside of the rim before coming out.

Fifth-year center Andre Screen came off the bench to contribute a season-high 15 points for Butler (5-1), advancing to Friday’s championship game against the winner of No. 25 Mississippi State and UNLV. Finley Bizjack added 12 points. Leading scorer Pierre Brooks II finished with one of seven points and two points – 14 points below his average.

Barnhizer paced Northwestern (5-2) with 24 points and seven rebounds, while fifth-year center Matthew Nicholson finished with a season-high 14 points. Martinelli, who entered the day as the nation’s leading scorer with 23.8 points per game and 60.2 percent shooting from the field, missed his first six shots and finished the game with seven points on 3 of 15 shooting.

Both teams needed time to warm up. Butler needed six possessions and four minutes to score its first points, while Northwestern, after suffering a Barnhizer fadeaway on its first possession of the game, needed nearly five minutes to score its second basket.

The Bulldogs found their groove first. They went on an 11-0 run that started with a Patrick McCaffery jumper at 14:28 and ended with Screen’s power move for a layup to take a 15-6 lead with 11:17 left.

While the Wildcats were busy missing 10 of 11 field goal attempts, Butler increased its lead to 24-10 with 6:43 left when Screen threw down a putback dunk and a layup and Telfort hit a 3.

KJ Windham came off the bench and started a Northwestern rally with a 3-pointer and a transition layup. Barnhizer finished the half with a 3-pointer and two free throws to cap a 13-2 run and put the Wildcats within 31-28 at the break.

In the second half, Northwestern failed to capitalize or take the lead on its first seven possessions. Then Jalen Leach drained a pullup from just beyond the free throw line with 6:27 left, giving the Wildcats a 53-52 lead – their first lead since 6-4.

That was the catalyst for Butler’s game-winning run. Telfort hit two free throws, Bizjack made a 3-pointer and Telfort sank a 3 from the wing to increase the Bulldogs’ lead to 60-55 with 3:45 to play.

–Field level media