A perfect shift
Butler's line change spurs Tornado to win

By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP — Butler made a line change — then the game changed.
The Golden Tornado fell behind Slippery Rock 12-5 in the first five minutes before coach Matt Clement replaced his starting five during the first round of the Butler Boys Basketball Tip-Off Tournament Friday night.
What followed was a 30-2 run that lasted into the early minutes of the third quarter. The spurt paved the way to a 61-41 Butler victory.
“One of the challenges I'm going to have this year is keeping everybody happy, because we have a lot of kids who can play,” Clement said.
“I can sub in five new guys who can change the tempo and pace of a game. That's what happened tonight.”
Butler will face Vincentian — a 100-90 winner over Kennedy Catholic in overtime — in the tourney championship game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
The visiting Rockets did not sink a field goal in the second quarter and went 12 minutes before Mark Cessar drained a trey with 6:29 left in the third quarter to end the drought. By that point, Butler had built a 35-14 lead.
“We stopped hitting shots and there were times we took bad shots,” Slippery Rock coach Phil Bushre said of the cold spell. “That stuff can happen in a first game. We got into a funk and couldn't get out of it.”
The Rockets trailed by as many as 23 in the third quarter before mounting a run of their own.When Brady Kadlubek canned a trey with 5:29 to play, Slippery Rock trailed only 47-35.
Butler scored the next nine points to put the game away.
“We had to gamble defensively and they got some easy buckets going the other way,” Bushre said.
Justice Lewandowski paced the Tornado with 19 points. Tyler Frederick scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Keenan Krause had seven points and six assists, Mark Gross seven points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“Coach challenged me to become more than just a 3-point shooter this year and drive to the basket more,” Lewandowski said. “My teammates were finding me and I was getting good looks.”
He was playing good defense as well.
“Their point guard (Jake Whitmer) is their best player and we had Justice on him from the start of this game for a reason,” Clement said. “His defense has been intense all through the summer for us.
“He made that kid work for everything he got.”
Whitmer had 17 points for Slippery Rock. Kadlubek scored 11 points while Ryan Dutton had eight points and five rebounds.
“This tournament will help prepare us for District 10 play down the road,” Bushre said.
Butler played 13 players Friday night. The Tornado had a 33-21 rebounding edge. Slippery Rock had 18 turnovers to Butler's 10.
“A lot of guys gave us good minutes,” Clement said. “Vincentian will give us a look at the pace of play North Allegheny likes to play at and some other teams on our schedule. They will be a nice challenge for us.”