His 3 points equal 1 win
Klutinoty's trey earns Butler boys 1st section victory

By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP — Christos Klutinoty came off the bench and got Butler off the schnide.
The sophomore guard drained a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds remaining Tuesday night, handing the Golden Tornado a 31-29 boys basketball victory over North Hills — Butler's first section win in seven tries.
Klutinoty's shot hit nothing but net.
"I knew it was going in,"he said. "I could feel it."
Butler (9-10, 1-6) held a 28-25 lead before turnovers nearly cost it the game. Kyle Henny scored layups off steals with 1:30 and 38 seconds left to give North Hills a 29-28 advantage.
Cody Patton stole the ball from Butler's backcourt again and was fouled with 22.3 seconds left. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, however, and the Tornado snared the rebound.
"We've got to make better decisions with the basketball in those situations,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski admitted. "But it's better to learn those lessons in a win."
Butler called its final timeout with 15.6 seconds left and had to inbound the ball under its own bucket. North Hills (8-10, 4-4) had a foul to give before putting the Tornado on the foul line.
To their coach's dismay, the Indians never fouled again.
"I told them seven times, during the timeout and on the floor, that I wanted a foul while Butler was coming up the court,"North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. "We were face-guarding them on the inbounds play and we would have done that again since they were out of timeouts."
Instead, point guard Clark Liebler was able to drive all the way to the basket and kick the ball out to Klutinoty, who was alone on the left wing.
"I'm encouraged by all that, especially with the game on the line," Lewandowski said. "Christos had to knock that shot down. ... It's not like he hasn't done it before."
Klutinoty helped Butler to a 14-4 lead early in the game by coming off the bench to sink two free throws and a pair of 3-pointers.
North Hills trailed 19-11 at the half, but it scored the first nine points of the third quarter to take the lead for the first time. Klutinoty did not score again until his game- winning shot.
"I was surprised I was that wide open at the end because they sealed me off the whole game after I made those two shots early,"Klutinoty said. "But (the defender) just left me."
Klutinoty said the winning shot was not a designed play, just a possibility.
"When someone drives to the bucket, I'm supposed to slide out to the wing I'm on and be ready for the kick-out," he said.
"Christos is a young player who knows the game and can shoot the basketball,"Lewandowski said. "He knew what to do on that play and we executed.
"We have a lot of confidence in his abilities. If we didn't, he wouldn't have been on the floor in that situation."
The lead changed hands five times after North Hills completed its 9-0 third-quarter run for a 20-19 edge with 2:37 left in the period. Neither team ever led by more than three points the rest of the way.
"This loss really hurts,"Gabos said. "We were 5-for-11 at the free throw line and that killed us. If we make that one-and-one at the end there, the game's probably over. All we would have had to do was prevent a 3-point shot."
Klutinoty led Butler with 11 points. Cody Fleeger added 10 and Mike Pratkanis had five of the Tornado's 19 rebounds. North Hills had 16 team rebounds
Henny paced the Indians with seven points.
"We have a next-game mentality here,"Lewandowski said. "Shaler is our most important game now.
"What's important is we're improving. This team beat us by 25 at their place earlier in the year. Now we've beaten them."
NORTH HILLS 29
Cody Patton 2-3 0-1 5, Kyle Henny 3-7 0-1 7, Brandon Paulik 0-2 0-0 0, Greg Sencak 0-2 0-0 0, R.J. Miller 1-3 1-2 3, Jim Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Timko 1-4 0-2 2, Dante Anglin 2-3 2-2 6, Dave McIntyre 1-3 2-3 4. Totals: 11-28 5-11 29
BUTLER 31
Mike Pratkanis 1-2 0-0 2, Cody Fleeger 4-9 1-2 10, Aaron Dorondo 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Lumley 0-1 0-0 0, Brian Deangelis 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Melder 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Lowry 3-9 0-0 6, Chris Klutinoty 3-4 2-2 11, Clark Liebler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 12-27 3-4 31
North Hills 7 4 14 4—29
Butler 14 5 3 9—31
3-point goals: Patton, Henny; Fleeger, Klutinoty 3
JV: Butler, 40-35 (B-Jeff Slater 10, NH-Mark Schneider 16