Twice
as deadly
Lowry,
Pratkanis lead Golden Tornado past Raiders
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP—
Sean Lowry and Mike Pratkanis put together double-doubles as the Golden Tornado
boys basketball team defeated
Though the visiting Raiders (11-9, 3-7) pulled within two points three times in
the fourth quarter,
Lowry had 19 points and 12 rebounds while Pratkanis came off the bench to score
11 points and grab 11 boards.
Lowry was held scoreless Friday at Shaler while Pratkanis did not make that
trip because of illness.
"Mike missed another practice because of that illness. That's why he
didn't start tonight,"
"Sean bounced back from what was a subpar performance by his standards and
had a huge game at both ends of the floor."
The Tornado (10-11, 2-7) jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the game's first two
minutes and led by as many as 12 (21-9) late in the first quarter.
Consecutive buckets by Lowry gave Butler a 35-25 edge with 2:53 left in the
third quarter. But the lead would not reach double digits again.
An 8-0 run by Seneca Valley — three of the buckets courtesy of junior forward
John Fitzpatrick — pulled the Raiders within 35-33 by quarter's end.
AFitzpatrick layup kept the Raiders close at 41-39 with 4:12 to play. Pratkanis
answered with a layup for Butler and Lowry was 8-for-8 at the foul line in the
fourth quarter as the Tornado held on.
"Every time they turned the ball over, we turned it over right back to
them,"Seneca Valley coach Vic Giannotta said of the final four minutes.
"And we were something like 4-of-21 at the foul line."
They were 6-of-16, actually, while Butler sank 16 of 22 free throws in the
fourth quarter alone.
"We needed this," Lowry said of the win. "We work on foul
shooting all the time and I'd been struggling at the line lately."
Lewandowski said Lowry is shooting about 78 percent from the line.
"If Sean misses the front end of a one-and-one, he feels like he's
struggling,"the Butler coach said. "But we put a lot of pressure on
him because he's so vital to everything we do."
Chris Klutinoty contributed nine points for Butler, including a critical layup
with 1:23 remaining. The Tornado were clinging to a 46-42 lead at the time and
facing heavy defensive pressure.
Fitzpatrick paced Seneca Valley with 18 points, but no Raider grabbed more than
five rebounds. Kevin Mayberry scored 10 points.
Butler had 16 turnovers — only two in the fourth quarter — to Seneca Valley's
10. The Tornado held a 36-30 edge in rebounds overall, though their roster has
been depleted the past couple of days.
Guard Ryan Melder broke his ankle in practice Monday. Cody Fleeger and Jace
Lumley left the gym on crutches Tuesday night after suffering ankle and knee
injuries, respectively.
Fleeger was injured early in the second quarter. Lumley replaced him and scored
seven points in that period before he got hurt. Both might miss the rest of the
season.
SENECA VALLEY 48
Gabe Grinder 1-10 2-2 5, Kevin Mayberry 4-15 0-1 10, Kevin Rohm 0-0 0-0 0, Pat
Heery 0-7 0-3 0, C.J. Brown 4-9 1-5 9, John Fitzpatrick 7-10 3-5 18, Shawn
Eagle 1-3 0-0 2, Jarrett Shotts 2-4 0-0 4, Sean Gress 0-0 0-0 0. Totals:
19-58 6-16 48
BUTLER 55
Mike Pratkanis 4-4 3-8 11, Jeff Slater 0-1 2-2 2, Aaron Dorondo 0-1 0-0 0, Cody
Fleeger 2-6 0-0 4, Jace Lumley 2-3 2-2 7, Eric King 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Lowry 4-7
10-13 19, Chris Klutinoty 3-9 2-2 9, Clark Liebler 0-1 3-4 3, Zach Cuffman 0-1 0-0
0. Totals: 15-33 22-31 55
Seneca Valley 13 8 12 15—48
Butler 21 9 5 20—55
3-point goals: Grinder, Mayberry 2, Fitzpatrick; Lumley, Lowry, Klutinoty
JV: Butler, 32-27 (B-Zach Cuffman 8, Austin Snodgrass 7; SV-Tony Tresser
9)