Athleticism
winning for Butler
Golden Tornado in finals of Sauer tourney after wearing down Woodland Hills,
67-61
FOX CHAPEL — Sometimes, the Butler boys basketball team’s athleticism is
overlooked.
Then the Golden Tornado remind everyone to take notice.
Butler can run with the best of them.
“My group, overall, is a pretty athletic group,” said Butler
coach Matt Clement. “I think people don’t look at us that way, but we’re pretty
athletic. We get up and down the court.”
Butler did that again against Woodland Hills Monday night at the
Peter Sauer Memorial Holiday Tournament at Shady Side Academy in a 67-61 win.
Butler also has a deep bench and has shooters who can get hot.
The Golden Tornado used 11 players and hit nine 3-pointers in the win, their
second consecutive at the tournament.
Jace Stutz came off the bench and hit four 3-pointers and scored
14 points. Justice Lewandowski hit three 3-pointers for 13 points.
Tyler Frederick also had a big game for the Tornado with 19
points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.
“We train to work on our shooting,” Clement said. “You saw how
many bodies I put in that game. All those guys are capable 3-point shooters.
It’s nice.”
Stutz was 4-of-6 from behind the arc, almost all of them coming
in big spots.
“He made some huge 3s,” Clement said. “A couple of times, when
that thing got under 10, he made a couple of 3s and changed the momentum.”
Butler’s offense was crisp, particularly in the second half when
the Tornado put up 41 points to hold off the Wolverines.
Butler (7-2) led by four at the half and opened up a 14-point
lead late in the third quarter.
Woodland Hills (2-7), though, went on a 9-0 run to close out the
third quarter.
The Wolverines could only get as close as four of the lead in the
fourth quarter.
That’s been a familiar refrain for Woodland Hills coach Odell
Miller, who has seen his team now lose three games by six points or less in the
last two weeks.
“We have an extremely young basketball team, but I’m extremely
proud of our basketball team,” said Miller, who started a freshman, three
sophomores and a junior against Butler. “It’s a team that regardless of the
circumstances, adversity or whatever, they go out and play hard and give it
their all. Eventually, it’s going to pay off.”
It’s already paying off for Avram Abramovitz, a sophomore guard
who led the Wolverines with 30 points, despite being held without a shot
attempt in the second quarter.
He’s just one of a nucleus of talent on the roster, Miller said.
“They go out there and they put it all on the line, man,” Miller
said. “That’s basically a JV team out there playing Quad-A. Eventually, we’ll
turn the corner.”
Clement was just happy Woodland Hills didn’t make that turn
against his team.
Butler will take on Fox Chapel, the other 2-0 team in the
tournament, at 8 p.m. today.
Clement is just pleased with how his deep team has meshed so far
this season.
“Everybody I put in the game, I trust,” Clement said. “They are
all in position to help us win. This is a team. This is more of a team than
I’ve ever had before, and that’s not a fault on any of my past teams by any
means. This team gets along. There’s a great chemistry. They trust each other
and I don’t think anyone cares in that locker room who scored the points. It’s
gratifying to me to see them get a couple of hard-fought games here so far.”
BUTLER 67
Kelly Kuharic 0-2 0-0 0, Kaden Rock 0-2 2-2 2, Jace Stutz 4-9 2-2
14, Justice Lewandowski 5-11 0-1 13, Keenan Krause 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew Paterno
2-5 0-0 6, Tyler Frederick 7-14 5-8 19, Jake Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Stutz 0-4
0-0 0, Connor Ollio 0-0 3-4 3, Mark Gross 3-6 2-2 8. Totals: 22-56 14-19 67.
WOODLAND HILLS 61
Amante Britt 3-9 1-1 9, Avram Abramovitz 11-20 7-9 30, Joel Shaw
3-10 2-5 8, Darrick Caraway 0-2 0-0 0, Jeremiah Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Tyrese
Robinson 2-2 1-2 5, Deontae Robertson 3-8 0-0 8, Zack Ikper 0-1 1-3 1. Totals:
22-54 12-23 61.
Butler 13 13 18 23 — 67
Woodland Hills14 8 17 22 — 61
3-point goals: Butler 9 (Jace Stutz 4, Lewandowski 3, Paterno 2);
Woodland Hills 5 (Britt 2, Abramovitz, Robertson 2)