Farewell, seniors
Butler gets 54-44 win in boys basketball home season finale
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP — Seniors on top of seniors, all with a purpose, each with a role.
That suits Jefferson Ford and Philip Vandergrift just fine.
The two Butler seniors joined fellow seniors Cade Negley and
Dillon Urander in making their first career varsity starts Monday night in the
Golden Tornado's regular season-closing 54-44 boys basketball win over
Armstrong.
The game marked Senior Night in the Butler gym.
Butler (14-8) honored its 10 seniors before the game. Ian
McCarrier rounded out the starting lineup Monday, a senior making his second
varsity start.
“I wanted to give those guys a chance to experience what that
feels like,” Butler coach Matt Clement said of being introduced as a starter.
“During our non-section games, I've tried to give some of our non-senior
starters that opportunity.”
Clement was recognized before the game as well, being presented an
award commemorating his 100th career coaching win. That 100th win came last
week against Central Catholic. Clement is 102-84 with six WPIAL playoff appearances
in eight years as Tornado head coach.
Ford contributed four assists and Vandergrift seven rebounds to
the win, Butler's third in a row. All 10 seniors played significant minutes and
11 different Butler players scored.
“It wasn't about the points for us,” Ford said. “Assists, rebounds
... Those are the stats we like. The nitty gritty stuff, that's what role
players like us do.
“Getting the chance to start tonight was like a dream come true
for me.”
Vandergrift treated Monday's game as a chance to show what he can
do on the court.
“We all work hard in practice to make everybody else better, and
to make ourselves better,” he said. “Tonight we were able to show what we can
do in a varsity game.”
The Tornado took the lead for good on a Jason Gray trey with 5:26
left in the first half. That gave Butler an 18-16 lead at the time.
Armstrong (11-11), a Class 5A playoff team, hung around much
longer, however. A six-point run pulled the River Hawks within 33-32 with 2:49
left in the third quarter.
Butler closed the quarter on an 8-0 run, fueled by a pair of Joel
Stutz treys. A 10-0 run in the fourth period upped the lead to 51-36 and Butler
cruised home from there.
“We were about winning this game,” Clement said. “This is
important in terms of carrying momentum into the playoffs. We lost a
season-ending non-section game last year going into the playoffs and that
derailed us a bit.
“When you have 10 seniors, some of the guys aren't going to play
much. That's reality. But some of these seniors run scout team for us. They run
what the other team is going to throw at us, plus they have to learn our plays.
They deserve a lot of credit for that.”
Butler's seniors are Andrew Yonker, Joel and Jace Stutz,
McCarrier, Gray, Tyler Frederick, Ford, Vandergrift, Negley and Urander.
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“I
wouldn't have traded going through my four years with these guys for anything,”
Ford said.
“We're a team,” Vandergrift
said. “It's always about the team.”
Joel Stutz paced Butler
with 16 points and three steals. Frederick had 11 points and seven rebounds,
McCarrier eight points and three assists.
Armstrong entered the game
allowing the fewest points per game (45.9) in all of Class 5A. Only California
(41.3) and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (43.1) allow fewer in the entire
WPIAL.
“We pride ourselves on
defense,” River Hawks coach Greg Hutcherson said. “They had a size advantage on
us for sure and they hurt us with some transition points in the second half.
“Butler is a big-time Class
6A program. We'd much rather play a team like that than some smaller program we
might just roll over.”
Nate Baillie paced
Armstrong with 11 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 4:46 to
play. The River Hawks sank just six of 15 free throws.
“We've struggled at the
four line for the past few games,” Hutcherson said. “That's something we have
to fix. You're not going to win in the playoffs if you can't make your free
throws.”
ARMSTRONG 44
Nick Russo 0-0 0-0 0,
Hunter Shanty 1-1 1-1 3, Dawson Porter 1-6 1-5 3, Jalen Price 3-5 0-1 6, Joe
McCanna 3-11 0-0 8, Mike Kunst 3-9 0-0 7, Nate Baillie 5-8 0-4 11, Isaiah Price
1-4 4-4 6. Totals: 17-44 6-15 44.
BUTLER 54
Luke Michalek 0-1 0-0 0,
Andrew Yonker 0-3 2-2 2, Jace Stutz 1-3 1-2 3, Ian McCarrier 3-10 0-0 8, Jason
Gray 1-1 0-0 3, Tyler Frederick 3-4 5-5 11, Connor Ollio 2-2 0-0 4, Ethan
Morton 1-1 0-0 3, Cade Negley 0-4 1-2 1, Joel Stutz 6-9 1-1 16, Jefferson Ford
1-3 0-0 2, Philip Vandergrift 0-0 1-2 1, Dillon Urander 0-2 0-2 0. Totals:
18-43 11-15 54.
Armstrong 10 11 11 12 — 44
Butler12 14 15 13 — 54
3-point goals: McCanna 2,
Kunst, Baillie; McCarrier 2, Gray, Morton, Jo.Stutz 3
JV: Butler, 56-25 (A: Jayvon
Roundtree 7, Nick Russo 7; B: Ben Kranbacher 14, Tarik Taoufik 9)
Today: WPIAL playoff
bracket meeting in Greentree