Tornado boys rally past C-M

By Sam Tallarico
Eagle Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — It was not the start Butler coach Matt Clement had wished for, but he certainly liked the effort in the end.
At the Trinity Tournament on Thursday, the Tornado got off the a sluggish start, failing behind Canon-McMillan 14-5 early in the second quarter and 25-18 with just over one minute left before halftime.
But, a 12-0 run — six points to close the half and six to open the third quarter — helped spur Butler to a 54-46 victory.
Butler (3-5) finished with just 13 baskets on the night, but sank 26 out of 45 free throws with all 13 of its fourth-quarter points coming at the line.
“Some of the guys settled down,” Clement said. “We had some young guys come in and give us a spark and some seniors off the bench did the same thing.”
“I think the biggest observation was (Butler) getting to the free-throw line,” said Big Macs coach Rick Bell. “They were 11-of-20 in the first half (15-of-25 in the second half). they’re an aggressive team. Matt does a great job with them.
“They were able to take us off the bounce and get on offense,” Bell added.
Canon-McMillan (4-5) had also gotten off to a frigid start as it trailed 3-2 with two minutes left in the first period. After the teams exchanged scores, the Big Macs went on a 10-0 spurt — highlighted by three Sam Bohn 3-pointers to give the squad a 14-5 lead with 7:20 left in the second quarter.
A 6-0 run later in the frame —a Seth Cook score, followed by one free throw each by Luke Hartung and Seth Horwat and two by Arum Krause — made it a 20-18 game with 2;25 left before halftime.
The Big Macs countered with two free throws by Seth Combs and a 3-pointer by Seth Petres to bump the lead back to seven points before the Tornado began to take control.
Arum Krause’s score and four free throws closed out the final 1:03 of the half, then baskets by Dom Pusateri and Hartung and a steal and score by Keenan Krause gave Butler a 30-25 advantage with 6:19 left in the third quarter.
“Butler did some things we hadn’t seen and prepared for,” Bell said. “That being said, we are a senior-dominated team. Give Butler credit. They did the run-and-press, then they went to the 1-3-1. If we hit a couple of shots, then they get out of it. We didn’t.”
“The score is not as close if we made our fouls shots,” Clement said. “There have been a couple of times we’ve gotten teams in foul trouble early but we haven’t taken advantage of it.”
Butler, however, would outscore the Big Macs 17-5 in that crucial third period with all the Big Macs’ points coming from the line.
“Seth Horwat played at the top of the 1-3-1 and he brought some big-time energy,” Clement noted.
The Tornado defense helped to limit Canon-McMillan to one basket over a 16-minute span. Butler took its biggest lead of the night at 51-33 with 3:37 to play.
Canon-McMillan finished the game on an 11-2 run, but the deficit was just too great.
“We made the decision over the last five minutes to turn the game into a free-throw shooting contest,” Bell said. “I was proud of our kids. They battled to the end.”
Butler received a balanced scoring attack as Arum Krause led the way with 12 points while Keenan Krause added nine points and Patten and Mark Gross added eight apiece. The Big Macs were paced by Bohn and Combs, who had 11 each.
Next up, the Tornado face host Trinity tonight at 7:30 p.m.
“This tournament is a chance to refocus and tinker with what we want to do and how we attack other teams and make adjustments,” Clement said. “We have to get ourselves ready to go. This tournament is a big challenge and Trinity will be a tough matchup.”

BUTLER 54
Dom Pusateri 1 0-0 2, Seth Cook 2 2-3 6, Keenan Krause 3 2-4 9, Arum Krause 2 8-12 12, Luke Hartung 1 1-2 3, Seth Horwat 1 2-5 4, Nick Patten 1 5-8 8, Jordan Cratty 0 0-0 0, Mark Gross 2 4-9 8, Zach Neudorfer 0 0-0 0, Luke Tincha 0 2-2 2, Shae Stobert 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 26-45 54.
CANON-MCMILLAN 46
Brett Haney 1 2-2 4, Jake Cedez 1 1-2 3, Evan Beach 2 0-0 5, Sam Bohn 4 0-2 11, Zach Wesolowski 1 1-3 3, Seth Petres 1 3-4 6, Ryan Gillespie 0 1-2 1, Seth Combs 2 7-7 11, Costa Karanikos 0 2-2 2, D.J. Miker 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 17-24 46.
Butler 5 19 17 13—54
Canon-McMillan11 14 5 16—46
3-point goals: Butler 2 (K. Krause, Patten). Canon-McMillan 5 (Bohn 3, Beach, Petres).