Guard Kamar Baldwin scored a game-high 25 points and forward Sean McDermott added 15 and host Butler kept alive its NCAA hopes with a 91-78 victory over DePaul Saturday night in a Big East Conference contest in Indianapolis.

The Bulldogs (15-11, 6-7 Big East) led for all but the first 1:32 in sweeping the two regular-season meetings with the Blue Demons (13-11, 5-8 Big East).

Guard Max Strus led DePaul with 23 points, guard Eli Cain had 17 and forward Femi Olojubi added 15.

After seeing a 14-point first-half lead trimmed to three by the break, the Bulldogs were back up by double digits midway through the second half thanks to an 11-0 run.

Guard Paul Jorgensen and guard-forward Henry Baddley hit consecutive 3-pointers to cap the run, which put Butler ahead 68-56 with 11:02 left in the game.

The Blue Demons whittle the lead back to single digits at 77-69 with 4:34 go. But Butler countered with McDermott's layup and forward Jordan Tucker's 3-pointer to build a 13-point cushion with 3:48 to go.

Both teams shot well (Butler 54.4 percent, DePaul 54.9), but Butler led in rebounds 31-23, and significantly, led in offensive rebounds 11-4.

Butler went on an early 10-0 run to take a 10-3 lead and later had a 13-4 surge for a 32-18 cushion in the first 12 minutes of the game.

Baldwin scored 17 of his points in the first half.

The Bulldogs were 16 of 29 from the floor but only 4 of 14 on 3-pointers.

The Blue Demons, who were 14 of 24 from the field in the first half, kept chipping away and closed to with 44-41 at intermission as Strus and Cain hit consecutive 3-pointers to close out the period.

--Field Level Media