Early Energy
Butler boys cruise to
76-57 victory vs. Central Catholic
January 12, 2019 High School Basketball
Butler
guard Devin Carney (2) powers to the hoop in the first quarter of the Golden
Tornado's 76-57 boys basketball win over Central Catholic Friday night in the
Butler gym.
NATE BLACK/ SPECIAL TO THE EAGLE
BUTLER TWP — Butler lit the fire early and
everybody helped to keep it burning.
The Golden Tornado fired out to a 9-0 lead
in the first four minutes and were never threatened at home Friday night in
rolling to a 76-57 Section 1-6A boys basketball win over Central Catholic.
“Anytime you're coming off a loss, you want
to respond with a quick start the next game,” Tornado junior guard Ethan Morton
said. “To everybody's credit, we were able to do that tonight.”
Morton wound up with a rare high school
triple-double, producing 27 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. He scored only
two points in the first quarter, but had nine rebounds by halftime.
“A high school game is only 32 minutes and
Ethan didn't play for the last three or four minutes,” Butler coach Matt
Clement said. “And he does this with all of the attention that he gets on the
floor.
“It's a credit to him that he's able to do
that.”
Morton was quick to deflect that credit to
his teammates.
“I have all of them to thank for it,” he
said of the triple-double. “Guys were finishing and I was getting a lot of my
rebounds from everyone else boxing out and clearing space.”
The Tornado (10-3, 3-1) had a 33-22 edge on
the boards and forced the Vikings (3-9, 1-3) into 18 turnovers despite much of
the game being played at a slower pace.
Central Catholic lost for the sixth time in
seven games.
“We're a young team and our inexperience is
showing,” Vikings coach Chuck Crummie said. “We only have one starter back
(Maurice Shipman) from last year and he struggled with his shooting tonight.
“There's only three seniors on the team,
period, so there's not a lot of leadership there. Definitely, we're going
through growing pains.”
Shipman sank just two of seven shots from
the floor and scored seven points. Ben Sarson led the Vikings with 15 points
and added six rebounds.
“We couldn't hit any shots early and we
haven't been playing very good defense,” Crummie said. “That enabled them to
jump out early.”
Clement was pleased with his team's defense.
“We've been a much better defensive team
since we worked on it hard over Christmas,” Clement said. “We dug in and
defended well all night.”
Butler's lead topped out at 22 points
(76-54) when Anthony Malloy sank his second trey of the contest with 2:05 to
play.
Colby Anderson also hit a trey in the final
period and Kevin King got playing time at guard in the first half.
“Those guys all practice with us every day
and they've come through this system ... I'm not afraid to play them,” Clement
said. “Luke (Patten) rarely leaves the floor and Mattix (Clement) was looking a
little tired, so we went to some different guys early.”
Patten picked up two fouls in the first
quarter and sat for the second period. He still scored 10 points, grabbed four
rebounds and had three assists.
Mattix Clement drained four treys for 12
points and collected four rebounds. Devin Carney had three assists while
Charlie Kreinbucher came off the bench to produce eight points and four
rebounds.
Ethan
Morton (25) produced 27 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in Butler's win
Friday night.
NATE BLACK/ SPECIAL TO THE EAGLE
“We're into the heart of the season now and
we had a lot of guys play valuable minutes in this game. That was fun,” Morton
said.
The Tornado travel to Seneca Valley on
Tuesday night.
“There are no easy games in this section,”
Clement said. “Seneca Valley has been playing very well lately. We have to
re-focus and be ready to go again.”
CENTRAL CATHOLIC 57
Maurice Shipman 2-9 1-2 7, Brett Palmer 4-6
0-0 8, Brian Dzuban 1-6 0-0 2, Ben Sarson 5-8 5-7 15, Jack Catanzarite 2-5 0-0
5, Elijah Blackburn 1-2 0-0 2, Anderson Cynkar 2-2 1-2 6, Collin O'Toole 2-6
1-2 7, Noah Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Jack Cherkos 0-1 0-0 0, David Dean 1-1 0-0 3.
Totals: 21-48 8-14 57.
BUTLER 76
Devin Carney 2-8 2-2 7, Colby Anderson 1-1
0-0 3, Kevin King 0-1 0-0 0, Mattix Clement 4-10 0-0 12, Luke Patten 5-6 0-1 10,
Charlie Kreinbucher 2-4 4-4 8, Mason Montag 0-4 2-2 2, Ethan Morton 10-16 7-9
27, Isaiah Scribner 0-0 1-2 1, Anthony Malloy 2-2 0-0 6 . Totals: 26-53 16-189
76.
Central Catholic 9 12 16 20 — 57
Butler16 20 18 19 — 76
3-point goals: Shipman 2, Catanzarite,
Cynkar, O'Toole 2, Dean; Carney, Anderson, Clement 4, Malloy 2
JV: Central Catholic, 51-48 (CC: Anderson
Cynkar 18, Collin O'Toole 11; B: Raine Gratzmiller 22)