YUMA, Ariz. – Evan Butts set a career-high in three-pointers made with 11 to help the Arizona Western Matadors (23-6, 16-5) to an 83-67 win over Yavapai (7-22, 4-17) on Monday night in Prescott, Ariz., at Walraven Gymnasium.

Butts finished the game with a career-high 34 points and hit six of his 11 made three-pointers in the second half to help the Matadors pull away from the Roughriders.

Yavapai jumped out to the early lead, scoring nine of the first 13 points of the game before the Matadors put together a 20-5 run which included three Evan Butts three-pointers, the third giving the Matadors a 24-14 lead. With the Matadors leading 30-23, Yavapai closed the gap with a 7-0 run to tie the game but the Matadors closed the first half on an 8-0 run, taking a 38-31 lead at the break.

Yaxel Lendeborg helped get the Matadors' offense started by scoring seven of the Matadors' first 11 points, finishing the game with 13 points.

The Matadors stretched the run out to 14-0 thanks to a Matija Gledic three-pointer early in the second half which gave the Matadors a 44-31 lead. Gledic hit another three a few possessions later to stretch the lead to 47-33. Butts hit six of his nine made threes in the second half, helping the Matadors build the lead back up to 15-points at 73-58. Butts' ninth three of the game gave the Matadors their largest lead of the game at 81-62.

Hargrove scored 11 points with nine of them coming in the second half while Gledic finished the game with seven points. With the win, the Matadors secured the second seed in the Region I DI playoffs and will host Eastern Arizona on Saturday, March 4, at 7:00 pm. 

The Matadors wrap up the regular season on Tuesday, February 28, in Glendale, taking on the Gauchos at 5:30 pm.