Hot
shots
Butler shoots 61 percent from fi eld, jumps on Shaler early for 78-36 win
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP — Shots went up. Shots went in. Quickly and with regularity.
And the competitive side of this game was over
fast.
Butler sank 11 of its 12 field goal attempts
in the first quarter — including four treys — and had a 15-0 lead less than
four minutes into its boys basketball game against Shaler Tuesday night.
The Titans never got that deficit out of
double digits as the Golden Tornado (4-1, 1-1) rolled to a 78-36 Section 3-AAAA
victory.
“I expected our effort to be there and it was.
I just didn’t expect this type of outcome ... not against a team that took
North Allegheny to the wire the other night,” Butler coach Matt Clement
said.
“Shaler is going to win some games in this
section. We just played our best game of the season tonight.”
Shaler (0-5, 0-2) dropped its 14th straight
game dating back to last season. Titans coach Rob Niederberger has only been on
the job for three months.
Regardless, he wasn’t happy when he called a
timeout with 4:06 left in the opening quarter, saddled with that 15-0
deficit.
“I told our guys we better man up and
communicate better on defense,” Niederberger said. “We knew what was coming
tonight. Butler can shoot it and they kept knocking them down.”
The Tornado shot 61 percent from the field (28
of 46) for the night, including 12 of 20 from beyond the 3-point line. Six
different Butler players sank treys.
After missing a number of shots in the second
quarter, hitting just four of 15, Butler re-energized in the third. The Tornado
sank eight of nine shots, including five treys in the third period.
“It’s a lot of fun when eyeryone’s hitting
like that,” junior guard Joel Stutz said. “We run a selfless offense. Find the
open man and let it go.”
Butler’s lead peaked at 78-31 when Ian
McCarrier drained a trey with 1:20 left in the contest.
Stutz had 15 points and seven assists, Connor
Ollio 15 points, Tyler Frederick 14 points and 12 rebounds. Frederick had 12
points and all 12 of his boards in the first half and rarely saw the court in
the final two quarters.
“This one really felt good after what happened
at North Hills,” Stutz admitted. “We needed this.”
They prepped for it as well.
Butler practiced at 8 a.m. Saturday after
dropping a 62-59 decision at North Hills the night before.
“That was a physical practice and the guys
showed up raring to go that morning,” Clement said. “It’s tough coming in that
early the day after such a tough loss, but we had a great practice. We let one
that we should have had slip away and everyone knew it.
“That Saturday practice set up what you saw
tonight.”
Butler shined defensively as well. Shaler’s
Tanner Reinheimer, one of the top scorers in the section, was held to four
points.
“Jace (Stutz) did a great job on him,” Clement
said.
Emilio Posa and Nick Fugh scored 11 points
each for Shaler. The Titans had 14 turnovers to Butler’s eight.
“We have a new group of players here,”
Niederberger said. “We have to come out each night with effort, energy and
urgency. That’s how good programs are built.”
Butler travels to Pine-Richland Friday
night.
“They were ranked No. 1 in the WPIAL in
preseason,” Clement said. “They’re good. We want to go in there and play a
strong game against those guys.”
SHALER 36
Anthony Venezia 0-5 0-0 0, Emilio Posa 4-8 3-3
11, Tanner Reinheimer 1-5 2-2 4, Austin Bauer 1-2 0-0 3, Nathan Grande 1-7 0-0
2, Nick Fugh 5-9 1-3 11, Brennan Keillor 2-5 1-2 5, Zach Romac 0-0 0-0 0, Jack
Quinn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 14-42 7-10 36.
BUTLER 78
Jordan Bailey 0-1 0-0 0, Damien Pickett 1-2
1-2 3, Kaden Rock 3-8 0-0 9, Luke Michalek 0-0 0-0 0, Kelley Kuharic 2-2 0-0 6,
Jace Stutz 2-3 0-0 5, Andrew Yonkers 0-1 0-0 0, Ian McCarrier 1-2 0-0 3, Jason
Gray 2-2 0-0 6, Tyler Frederick 6-8 2-2 14, Connor Ollio 6-6 3-5 15, Joel Stutz
4-7 4-6 15, Jacob Kradel 0-0 0-0 0, Jefferson Ford 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 28-46
10-15 78.
Shaler 11 8 8 9 — 36
Butler26 13 25 14 — 78
3-point goals: Bauer; Rock 3, Kuharic 2, Ja.
Stutz, McCarrier, Gray 2, Jo. Stutz 3
JV: Butlerm, 58-41 (B: Tarik Taoufik 9, Andrew
Yonkers 9; S: Kevin McHale 12, Matthew Tavella 10