Butler’s ‘Rock’ star
Tornado guard scores 28 points in section win
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP — Eight minutes.
That’s all that stood between
The Golden Tornado answered the bell and created a logjam in the section with a
68-57 boys basketball victory over North Hills Friday night.
“A loss wouldn’t have put us out of it, but it would have greatly reduced our
margin for error the rest of the way,”
“There’s no way you want to do that.”
But the players knew the score.
“Coach always tell us to go out there, play basketball and have fun,” junior
center Tyler Frederick said. “But we knew how important this game was.”
And
He drained a trey 15 seconds into the period to knot the contest. He then added
a lay-up off an assist from Connor Ollio and sank another 3-pointer to give
The Tornado went on to outscore the Indians (7-6, 4-3) 26-12 in the fourth
quarter. North Hills didn’t score at all in the quarter until just 3:30
remained.
“Tyler got it started ... and Kaden Rock finished it,” Clement said.
Rock, a senior guard, struck for a career-high 28 points, including six treys.
He hit a three to extend the lead to 55-48 with 3:05 left, then hit one off an
inbounds play with 1:33 to go, hiking the margin to 62-51.
That shot sealed the outcome.
“Once you hit the first 3-pointer, you feel the confidence,” Rock said. “Yeah,
I felt it tonight. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball. I don’t
think any of those looks were contested.”
“I don’t know ... he had a hand in his face when he hit that last one,” Clement
said.
Rock scored 27 points and hit seven treys in a junior varsity game two years
ago. He has never approached such numbers as a varsity player.
“Kaden Rock just killed us,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “He was
phenomenal.
“Butler outworked us in the fourth quarter. They were quicker to the ball than
we were.”
The Tornado played shut-down defense and sank 10 of 11 free throw throws in the
final eight minutes as well.
“We took four charges in that period. That’s what I’m most proud of,” Clement
said. “And I’m proud of Kaden. Seeing a senior rise to the occasion and have
that kind of game in this type of atmosphere was fantastic.
“He’s capable of doing this. I’m happy for him.”
Frederick had 19 points and six rebounds for Butler. Ollio contributed 11
points and five boards.
Luke Michalek had six assists and guarded North Hills’ standout guard Nick
Smith much of the night. Smith fouled out late in the game with 25
points.
“He (Smith) is a great player and he had to work for everything he got,”
Clement said. “We didn’t allow him to be a difference-maker down the
stretch.”
Smith managed just one point in the final quarter before sinking a trey in the
game’s final seconds.
Ish Waldron scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for North Hills.
“We were lucky to beat them at our place (62-59 on Dec. 11),” Gabos said. “They
didn’t shoot the ball that well that night. Butler is a darn good team.
“It is so hard to make the playoffs out of this section. You just have to keep
on grinding.”
Clement pointed out that Joel Stutz has been Butler’s leading scorer “in more
than half our games this year.
“He scored six tonight and we beat one of the best teams in the WPIAL. That
shows where we’re at as a team.”
Stutz produced five rebounds and five assists for Butler’s cause. The final score
shows how critical Rock’s performance was as well.
“He’s a senior who stepped up and played huge,” Frederick said. “We needed him
— and he delivered.”
NORTH HILLS 57
Jon Stuckert 2-4 0-0 5, Nick Smith 8-17 8-13 25, Austin Babjak 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Brown 0-0 0-0 0,
Luke Chutko 2-6 1-1 5, Andrew Paulaskas 4-5 1-2 9, Owen Davis 1-2 0-0 3,
Ishmael Waldron 4-6 2-5 10. Totals: 21-51 12-20 57.
BUTLER 68
Ian McCarrier 0-0 0-0 0, Kaden Rock 9-13 4-4 28, Luke Michalek 0-3 0-0 0,
Kelley Kuharic 0-1 0-0 0, Jace Stutz 0-0 2-2 2, Jason Gray 0-1 2-2 2, Tyler
Frederick 8-15 0-0 19, Connor Ollio 4-12 3-4 11, Joel Stutz 2-5 2-3 6,
Jefferson Ford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-50 13-15 68.
North Hills 10 19 16 12 — 57
Butler17 13 12 26 — 68
3-point goals: Stuckert, Smith, Davis; Rock 6, Frederick 3
JV: Butler, 56-41 (NH: Kamron Taylor 10, B: Tarik Taoufik 11)