Fate
favors Tornado
Butler
crafts 2 OT victory over Raiders
By Mike Kilroy
Eagle Staff Writer
JACKSON TWP — Fate must be smiling on the
She smiled on Blake Anderson Friday night, when his fall-away, desperation
3-pointer swished through the hoop at the buzzer to send the game to its first
overtime.
She smiled on Golden Tornado coach Joe Lewandowski, who pushed all the right
buttons in a frenetic final three minutes in regulation that allowed
And she smiled on
Fate frowned on the Raiders again.
Fate 1,
But the most important score was
"This is what is beautiful about coaching and beautiful about high school
athletics," Lewandowski said. "It's so pure."
Lewandowski stormed the court, his arms pumping. He also showed off some of the
leaping ability that made him a star at
He had plenty to jump up and down about.
Lewandowski watched his team scratch and claw back from a 55-40 deficit with
The Tornado (13-9, 6-6) hit seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and fouled
the Raiders judiciously.
That allowed
"We do last-minute situations (in practice), but you can never simulate
what it is like live and in a game," Lewandowski said. "They just
said, 'We will not lose this basketball game.' Every single time we called time
out, every single time we fouled, there was never any quit."
Anderson, who scored 24 points, including seven in the decisive overtime
period, tossed up his desperation 3-pointer falling away and with two sets of
hands in his face and prayed.
As he fell to the floor, he looked up and saw the ball fall through the net to
tie the score at 61.
"I thought time was going to run out before I got it off," said
Anderson, who was fed the ball by Jade Burka off a missed shot by Adam Monday
with four seconds left. "It was amazing."
And it wasn't close to being over.
That score held up until
The Tornado led by as many as five points and held off
"This one might sting for a while," said
The Raiders have lost five of their last six section games by five points or
fewer.
"I know it is tough for (Giannotta)," Lewandowski said. "He's
doing a tremendous job. Anyone who says differently doesn't know anything about
basketball."
Giannotta had the Raiders ready early.
But the Tornado rallied to tie the score at 24 at the half.
The Raiders began the third quarter like it had the first and built a
double-digit lead in the fourth.
With less than two minutes remaining in regulation,
That had Butler playing desperately and for its playoff life to boot.
A loss would have assuredly ended the Tornado's playoff hopes. Now, they still
has some life when they play North Hills Tuesday.
"I don't know what is going to happen to us in the end, but I just know we
have some great kids and they are going to be successful in life,"
Lewandowski said. "They figured something out that 90 percent of the
people in the world never do. You never give up because you never know when
your luck is going to change."
Or when fate will wink at you.
BUTLER 79
Blake Anderson 9-18 2-2 24, Jade Burka 6-9 0-1 12, Brian DeAngelis 0-0 0-0 0,
Cody Fleeger 2-5 0-0 5, Alan Jackson 5-8 4-5 14, Nick Martini 4-9 0-0 12, Adam
Monday 2-8 2-2 8, Noah Hartung 1-1 1-4 4. Totals: 29-58 9-14 79
SENECA VALLEY 76
Gabe Grinder 3-6 7-9 14, Kevin Mayberry 4-7 5-6 13, Kevin Rohm 0-0 3-4 3, Pat
Heery 5-10 5-9 15, Jon Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, John Fitzpatrick 0-0 0-0 0, Shawn
Eagle 4-6 2-4 10, Dave Monteleone 8-16 4-10 21. Totals: 24-45 26-42 76
3-point goals:
Anderson 4, Fleeger, Martini 4, Monday 2, Hartung, Grinder, Monteleone