Butler
holds off stubborn Shaler
Rock strikes for 22 points in Tornado’s 63-54 road win
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
SHALER TWP —
Good thing.
The Golden Tornado jumped out to a 9-2 lead in
the first five minutes, but could not shake the Titans all night in gutting out
a 63-54 Section 3-AAAA boys basketball victory on the road.
Butler defeated Shaler by 42 points — 78-36 —
in a December home game this season.
“I knew this game wasn’t going to be like that
one,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We played extremely well that night and
it was going to be tough to duplicate that. And any time a team gets beaten
like that, it can serve as extra motivation the next time around.”
Try as they might, however, the Titans (2-14,
1-7) could not put together any type of run all night in dropping their sixth
straight game.
Butler’s biggest lead in the contest was 11
points. Shaler got as close as six (41-35) midway through the third quarter and
got within seven (55-48) with 2:45 left in the game. The Titans could creep no
closer.
“You need stops to generate a run and we weren’t
getting any,” Titans coach Rob Niederberger said. “That’s what it came down to.
It felt like we were down by seven all night.”
Kaden Rock led the Tornado (12-4, 5-3) with 22
points, including four treys. All four of those shots thwarted Shaler comeback
attempts.
“It seemed like every time they were primed to
make a run at us, Kaden hit a big shot,” Clement said.
Tyler Frederick had 16 points and 13 rebounds
for Butler, which was outrebounded 34-29 overall.
Connor Ollio contributed 12 points, Joel Stutz
and Luke Michalek four assists each.
Junior guard Tanner Reinheimer struck for 26
points to lead Shaler. He drained five treys.
In his team’s 42-point loss at Butler,
Reinheimer scored only four points.
“He didn’t shoot well that night. Tonight, he
was on,” Niederberger said.
Rock can respect that.
“It seemed like every thing he was throwing up
there was going in,” Rock said. “Tanner Reinheimer is a great player. He was
the difference for them.”
And Rock is making a difference for
Butler.
He has scored 49 points in the past two games,
including 10 3-pointers.
“I missed my first shot tonight, but I still
felt confident,” Rock said. “The foul line helped me tonight, too. Those are
free buckets.
“My teammates did a good job again of finding
me with open shots. I hope my game is improving. I just want to be unselfish
like everybody else and help this team win.”
Rock sank eight of his 10 free throws Tuesday.
Butler sank 20 of 25 as a team.
Brennan Keillor contributed eight points and
10 rebounds to Shaler’s cause.
“I’ve been saying all along, Shaler and Seneca
Valley are going to beat some teams in this section,” Clement said. “My stomach
was in knots all day thinking about this game. It’s a Tuesday night road game
and they are hungry to get somebody.
“Our guys took a very business-like approach
to this game. We came out focused and ready to play. If we didn’t, we would not
have won this game.”
Butler has won seven of its last eight
games.
Niederberger isn’t into moral victories, but
he is a realist at the same time.
“Shaler has been losing a lot of basketball
games over the past three years,” he said. “We’re not going to turn that around
in three months.
“Butler jumped on us at their place and we
were overwhelmed. They jumped on us tonight and we were able to weather things
and hang in the game. We’re definitely getting better.”
BUTLER 63
Kaden Rock 5-8 8-10 22, Damien Pickett 0-0 0-0
0, Kelley Kuharic 0-2 1-2 1, Jace Stutz 2-5 1-2 6, Luke Michalek 0-2 0-0 0,
Jason Gray 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Frederick 5-7 5-6 16, Connor Ollio 6-10 0-0 12,
Joel Stutz 2-6 0-0 6, Jefferson Ford 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 20-45 15-20 63.
SHALER 54
Nick Fugh 2-7 0-2 5, Anthony Venezia 1-8 0-1
3, E.J. Posa 1-5 4-4 6, Tanner Reinheimer 8-17 5-6 26, Austin Bauer 1-3 0-0 2,
Brennan Keillor 4-9 0-0 8, Nate Grande 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 19-52 9-13 54.
Butler 16 19 13 15 — 63
Shaler11 16 13 14 — 54
3-point goals: Rock 4, Ja.Stutz, Frederick,
Jo.Stutz 2; Fugh, Venezia, Reinheimer 5
JV: Butler, 46-36 (B: Tarik Taoufik 15, Ian
McCarrier 12; S: Jack Quinn 8)