Show stoppers
Carney nets
career-high 47 points, Clement hits 1,000 in Butler OT win
February 22, 2021 High School Basketball
Butler's
Mattix Clement drives to the hoop against Pine Richland's Joey Petcash Saturday
afternoon. Clement became the 11th Butler player to reach 1,000 career points
in the Golden Tornado's overtime victory.
SEB FOLTZ/BUTLER EAGLE
BUTLER TWP — Mattix Clement reached a
milestone.
Devin Carney stole the show.
And Butler's boys basketball team scored an
epic 74-71 Section 1-6A boys basketball overtime victory over Pine-Richland in
the Golden Tornado gym.
The Tornado (9-7, 4-6) won their fourth
straight game and snapped Pine-Richland's four-game winning streak. The Rams
(9-5, 6-4) defeated North Allegheny by 26 points Friday night.
Carney scored a career-high 47 points,
making numerous heroic shots late in the game. He was 14-of-14 from the foul
line. The game marked Carney's third 40-plus point performance in two weeks.
“Teams have to choose how they want to
defend us,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Pine was coming way out on our
3-popint shooters.
“That left Devin with a lot of one-and-one
and he scored 47 points.”
Butler managed only five treys Saturday,
well below the team's average in that department.
Mattix Clement netted 16 points for Butler,
reaching the 1,000-point plateau when he hit a jumper just inside the 3-point
arc with 4:54 left in the first half. He became the 11th player in Butler
history to score 1,000 points.
Butler called a timeout immediately after
Clement made the shot, which pulled the Tornado within 28-20 at the time.
“I didn't know what was going on,” Mattix
said. “I had no idea I was near 1,000. I've never kept track of how many points
I've had.
“I was worried about winning this game. We
were losing.”
Butler trailed by as many as 10 in the first
half. The Tornado never took the lead until a Carney layup gave Butler a 51-50
edge 30 seconds into the fourth period.
The lead changed hands four times in the
fourth frame. The Rams had a 63-58 advantage with less than two minutes to
play, but Carney hit a jumper, then a trey — the latter with 1:03 remaining —
to knot the game.
Butler had a chance to win the game in
regulation, but Carney's 12-footer missed just before the buzzer.
“I've never been on a (shooting) stretch
like this before in my life,” Carney sad of his recent high-point totals. “This
was a big game for us. As it went into overtime, I could feel the adrenalin
push.”
A Carney jumper and two Raine Gratzmiller
free throws gave Butler a four-point lead in overtime. Pine-Richland responded,
using a pair of Joey Dudkowski layups for a 69-68 lead with 1:19 left in the
extra session.
Butler went on a 6-0 run to put the game
away. Carney hit a short jumper, then four free throws, the latter pair coming
with 7.3 seconds left.
Pine-Richland had 16 turnovers in the game
to Butler's eight.
“Too many mistakes,” Rams coach Bob Petcash
said. “The type of mistakes we made today is how you lose games.
“Playing the night before had nothing to do
with this game. You have to meet challenges from day to day in life, whether
it's on the court, in a classroom, an office, wherever. That's the lesson we
have to take from this.”
Carney got off to a slow start, sinking just
two of his first 12 shots from the floor. He recovered and made 13 of his final
18.
“Devin was getting a little frustrated and
they (Rams) were trying to do some things against him,” Coach Clement said.
“They were effective with that early, but Devin was able to adjust and
overcome.
“Mattix hit a couple of buckets early to
help us stay close. A lot of guys contributed to this win in different ways.”
Carney, leading the WPIAL at 32 points per
game, had three steals to go with his 47 points. Clement now has 1,006 points
in his career.
Gratzmiller had eight points, Charlie
Kreinbucher six rebounds, Madden Clement four rebounds, three steals and three
assists.
Joey Petcash led Pine-Richland with 23
points — sinking five treys — while adding four rebounds and four assists.
Dudkowski had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists, Andrew Alexander 12
points, four rebounds and three assists.
Luke Shanahan had 11 rebounds before fouling
out in overtime.
“We were hoping we could get them in foul
trouble and we did,” Coach Clement said. “Balance can be deadly at any level of
basketball and Pine definitely has balance. They have a great team.”
PINE-RICHLAND 71
Eli Jochem 2-3 0-1 4, Andrew Alexander 4-11
2-2 12, Joey Petcash 8-13 2-3 23, Luke Shanahan 0-4 0-0 0, Dylan Serafini 4-4
0-0 8, Jameson O'Toole 3-9 1-2 9, Joey Dudkowski 5-10 4-6 15. Totals: 26-54
9-14 71.
BUTLER 74
Raine Gratzmiller 3-3 2-2 8, Devin Carney
15-31 14-14 47, Mattix Clement 6-11 2-2 16, Colin Paterson 0-1 0-2 0, Charlie
Kreinbucher 0-1 1-3 1, Madden Clement 0-3 0-0 0, David Leslie 0-0 2-2 2, Kaleb
Proudfoot 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 24-52 21-25 74.
Pine-Richland 20 11 19 13 8— 71
Butler14 13 2214 11 — 74
3-point goals: Alexander 2, Petcash 5,
O'Toole 2, Dudkowski; Carney 3, Mat.Clement 2
JV: Pine-Richland, 77-60 (P-R: Owen Luellen
22, Andy Swartout 20, Jameson O'Toole 16; B: Lance Slater 18, Mac Schnur 12)