Bluiett, who hit 6 of 9 3-point attempts while playing in his hometown, drained a 3-pointer in overtime to give Xavier a 95-90 lead with 25 seconds left.

Butler's Henry Baddley missed two free throws with 17 seconds left. Naji Marshall, who had 15 points for Xavier, sank one of two throws with 15 seconds left. Butler's Kelan Martin then missed a 3-point shot to effectively end the Bulldogs' hopes.

The Musketeers (22-3, 10-2 Big East) drilled 24 of 28 free throws. Kanter hit 10 of 15 field-goal attempts for the Musketeers, who shot 59.3 percent. Xavier was 10 of 21 on 3-pointers, while Butler was 14 of 31 from that range. The Bulldogs made 13 of 16 from the foul line.

Martin scored 34 points, hitting 6 of 12 3-point tries, to lead Butler (17-8, 7-5). Sean McDermott added 17 points, hitting 5 of 6 3-point attempts. Kamar Baldwin chipped in with 16.

The Bulldogs, who trailed by 40-30 at halftime, took a 52-50 lead on McDermott's 3-pointer with 12:47 to go in regulation.

Martin eventually sank two consecutive 3-pointers to push the Bulldogs' lead to 62-56, but Xavier answered with a 5-0 run to close gap to 62-61.

With Xavier trailing 66-63, Bluiett was fouled and hit all three free throws to tie it with 6:42 remaining in regulation.

With the help of more free-throw success, Xavier was able to take a take an 82-75 lead. McDermott's 3-pointer trimmed the gap to 82-78 with 59 seconds left in regulation. Following a Xavier turnover, McDermott drilled another 3-pointer to trim the Musketeers' lead to 82-81.

After a basket by Kanter, Baldwin sank a 3-pointer to tie it at 84-all with 13 seconds left in regulation. Kanter missed a shot to win it in regulation with 3 seconds left

Xavier sank 16 of 24 shots in the first half.

Trailing 9-4, the Musketeers used a 25-2 run to take their largest lead at 29-11. At that juncture, Xavier had hit 12 of 16 shots while Butler was 4 of 14.

--Field Level Media