INDIANAPOLIS – DJ Davis scored all of his 28 points after halftime, and Butler completed an improbable comeback with an 88-81 victory over Villanova in Big East basketball before a sellout crowd of 9,237 Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The Bulldogs (14-7, 5-5) trailed 11-0 at the start, by 14 points in the first half, by 13 in the second, by 11 with less than 4 ½ minutes remaining.

But the Hinkle hex — Hinkle Magic? — persisted for Villanova (11-9, 4-5).

The Wildcats are 2-6 against Butler in their past eight games at Hinkle. They have lost four in row.

Insider: Butler didn't lead in the game's first 40 minutes. So how did Dawgs beat Villanova?

Eric Dixon led Villanova with 28.

For Butler, Jahmyl Telfort added 22, Pierre Brooks II 13 and Posh Alexander 12.

Three takeaways:

NCAA hopes still alive.

With games coming up Friday at No. 16 Creighton and Feb. 6 at No. 1 Connecticut — a program the Bulldogs have never beaten, dating to the 2011 NCAA championship game — they easily could have fallen to 4-8 in the Big East.

Now, there is seemingly a pathway to a 10-10 league record, which would put Butler in Big Dance discussion. It would have been hard to go from 4-8 to 10-10.

Before this game, Villanova was 40^th in NET and Butler 60^th. NET is a ranking used to select and seed the NCAA tournament.

An inside job

Villanova was 15-of-20 on 2-pointers in the first half. There was simply not enough resistance.

Butler coach Thad Matta pulled center Jalen Thomas and inserted Andre Screen. That helped a little, as evidenced by Screen’s minus-2 and Thomas’ minus-8, both in 10 minutes.

But in the second half, the Bulldogs limited Villanova to 12-of-28 on 2.

It’s a make-or-miss game

Midway through the second half, the Bulldogs were shooting 4-of-16 on layups and 2-of-17 3-pointers. That they trailed by just six points was astounding.

But when the shots started falling, it was like a blinding snowstorm. The Bulldogs closed the game by shooting 14-of-20.

Davis scored 25 points in the closing 17-plus minutes, featuring five 3-pointers.

Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

Butler stats vs. Villanova

VILLANOVA (11-9): Burton 6-8 1-2 13, Dixon 11-18 2-3 28, Bamba 6-10 0-0 14, Hart 4-7 1-1 10, J.Moore 2-12 1-2 5, Armstrong 4-8 0-0 8, Longino 1-5 1-1 3, Ware 0-2 0-0 0, Hausen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-71 6-9 81.

BUTLER (14-7): Telfort 7-12 5-6 22, Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, Alexander 3-13 6-8 12, Davis 10-20 3-4 28, Brooks 6-17 0-0 13, Screen 3-3 1-2 7, Bizjack 1-3 2-2 4, L.Moore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-72 17-22 88.

Halftime—Villanova 36-27. 3-Point Goals_Villanova 7-23 (Dixon 4-8, Bamba 2-3, Hart 1-3, Armstrong 0-1, Burton 0-1, Longino 0-2, J.Moore 0-5), Butler 9-29 (Davis 5-11, Telfort 3-5, Brooks 1-5, Thomas 0-1, Bizjack 0-2, Alexander 0-5). Rebounds_Villanova 30 (Burton 10), Butler 37 (Telfort 11). Assists_Villanova 17 (Dixon 5), Butler 11 (Alexander 4). Total Fouls_Villanova 16, Butler 12. A_9,237 (9,100).

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 3 reasons Butler basketball beat Villanova in double OT