Butler basketball off to 2-0 start
Golden Tornado cruise
past Summit, 76-35
December 11, 2017 High School Basketball
PINE TWP — To say
everybody contributed to Butler's 76-35 boys basketball win over Summit Academy
in the Pine-Richland Tip-Off Tournament is more than accurate.
The Golden Tornado had 13 players score, 11
grab at least a couple of rebounds and seven dish off assists in the runaway
victory.
“I was concerned coming into this game,”
Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Playing early today after last night, I wasn't
sure if we'd have our legs.
“Pine-Richland beat this team by turning
them over. We're not the type of team that's going to win that way. Summit
Academy has athletes ... I wasn't sure how this one was gonna
go.”
It went Butler's way early and stayed that
way.
The Tornado (2-0) shot out to a 9-2 lead in
the first two and a half minutes, led 25-8 by the end of the quarter and were subbing a lot of players in by the second period.
Butler's leading scorer was freshman Mattix Clement. The coach's son made his varsity debut in
the second quarter, draining four treys in less than three minutes. He wound up
with five treys and 15 points.
The flurry of treys late in the half helped
Butler assume a 54-14 halftime lead. The mercy clock ran for most of the second
half.
“I don't even know what to say about that,”
Coach Clement said of his son's production. “I know he can shoot. That's why we
dress him varsity, for situations where we may need another shooter on the
floor.
“I'm paying more attention to his defense
and rebounding, but hitting some shots like that in a varsity game should give
him confidence.”
Luke Michalek
contributed 13 points, three rebounds and two assists for Butler. Ethan Morton
had 11 points, 11 assists, four steals and three rebounds.
Ten of Morton's assists occurred in the
first half. The Tornado's starting five played little in the second half.
“A lot of high school players can score. Not
many high school players can pass like Ethan can. That's why he's being so
heavily recruited,” Clement said.
“Luke is used to being a facilitator on the
floor and he still is. But he hit a couple of floaters in the lane today and he
knows we need him to score this year. We're looking to see more of that.”
Butler sank 28 of 50 shots from the floor
and six Tornado players sank 3-pointers.
“Guys are going to get open looks, quality
shots. We were hitting them,” Clement said.
The Tornado had a 36-21 rebounding advantage
on Summit Academy, which attempted only three free throws all day.
Nayshawn Jones paced the Knights
with eight points. Nine Summit Academy players scored in the contest.
“Opening against Pine-Richland and Butler
was tough,” Knights coach Glenn Gutierrez admitted. “But we learned about
things like team resolve and how to handle frustration.
“Our kids played hard throughout and that
was encouraging. I thought we worried about the scoreboard too much Friday
(81-26 loss). Today, I told them not to worry about the scoreboard. We had to
focus on doing what we do and how well we do it.”
SUMMIT ACADEMY 35
Pierre Thomas 1-6 0-0 3, Luis Vasquez 1-2
0-0 3, David Carter 0-1 0-0 0, Jaylon Ketchum 1-5 0-0
2, Nayshawn Jones 4-6 0-0 8, Bailey Krall 2-7 0-0 4, Ramier Tolbert
1-3 0-0 2, Sacario Morgan 0-1 0-2 0, Bryan Noel 3-5
1-1 7, Nick O'Dellick 2-7 0-0 4, Mykail
Wilson 1-5 0-0 2, Nasir Bluitt
0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-49 1-3 35.
BUTLER 76
Luke Michalek 6-9
0-0 13, John Michalek 2-5 0-0 5, Doug Kostelansky 0-1 2-4 2, Tarik Taoufik 3-4 0-0 6, Luke Patten 1-2 2-2 4, Mason Montag 2-3 1-2 6, Ethan Morton 3-7 4-4 11, Dom Schmidt 2-2
0-0 5, Isaiah Scribner 2-3 0-0 4, Colby Anderson 0-1 1-2 1, Nick Stazer 1-2 0-0 2, Ben Kranbacher
1-3 0-0 2, Mattix Clement 5-8 0-0 15. Totals: 28-50
10-14 76.
Summit Academy 8 6 12 9 — 35
Butler25 29 11 11
— 76
3-point goals: Thomas, Vasquez; L.Michalek, J.Michalek, Montag, Morton, Schmidt, Clement 5