Butler
defense paves way against McKeesport
Golden Tornado boys basketball team wins
5th straight, 54-41
John Enrietto Eagle Sports Editor
December 30, 2023 Last Updated: January
01, 2024 07:50 PM Sports
BUTLER TWP — The athleticism of McKeesport’s boys basketball team
generally calls for a zone defense.
Butler opted to play
man-to-man against the Tigers when the teams met as part of the Holiday Bash in
the Golden Tornado gym.
“I wanted to challenge
our guys, see if we could guard them while taking away lanes to the hoop and
not getting into foul trouble.” Butler coach Matt Clement said.
“That’s exactly what
we did.”
McKeesport turned the
ball over 19 times in the first half, scoring just 10 points in the first two
quarters, as the Tornado went on to a 54-41 victory,
Butler (7-1) never
trailed in posting its fifth consecutive win.
The Tigers (3-4)
trailed 25-10 at the intermission — but McKeesport coach Troy Blackwell
appreciated his team’s defensive effort.
“Holding a great team
like that to 25 points by halftime gave us a chance,” Blackwell said. “We have
a lot of good athletes on the floor and sometimes they get sloppy with the
ball, trying to do too much, and give up goofy turnovers.
“Once
we cleaned that up (in the second half), we played well, But we dug too big of
a hole.”
Trailing 41-25 through
three quarters, McKeesport got as close as nine (50-41) with 1:48 to play, but
four Donovan Carney free throws down the stretch salted away the Butler
triumph.
McKeesport had only
five turnovers in the second half. Butler had eight, 14 for the game.
“I never felt
comfortable with any lead we had tonight,” Clement admitted. “We’d look like
we’re ready to put it away and they would hit a three or turn us over a couple
of times.”
Carney led Butler with
24 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Braylon
Littlejohn contributed 11 points, five boards, four assists and three steals.
Stainton Forbes came off the bench to score nine
points — seven in the fourth quarter. His slam dunk to begin the fourth period
gave the Tornado their biggest lead of the night at 43-25.
Forbes added a trey
for a 50-37 Butler advantage with 4:12 to play.
“I’ve been working
hard on my game,” Forbes said. “I’m just happy to be out there playing, doing
what I can do to help the team win.
“Braylon
and Donovan are great players, but it’s important for us to play effective
roles on the court because those two can’t do it by themselves. It’s going to
take all of us.”
Clement agreed.
The Butler coach had
Andrew Lucas, Jordan Epps, Ayden Andrews, Forbes and Andrew Gettinger
off the bench and on the floor for quality minutes on Saturday night.
“We’ve got a lot of
guys who are good enough to be playing,” Clement said. “Braylon
and Donovan take up 64 minutes each game, so that leaves me 96 minutes to divvy
up for everybody else.
“I can’t give
everybody the minutes I’d like.”
Lamont Perkins led
McKeesport with 13 points. Dom Cochran had five rebounds, four assists and four
steals.
“When we’re taking
care of the basketball, I feel like we can play with anyone,” Blackwell said.
The Tornado begin section play Tuesday night, hosting Seneca Valley.
“Seneca is going to
come in here looking to win a basketball game,” Clement said. “We’ve got 10
section games ahead. We’re going to take them one at a time and see what we can
get done.”
McKEESPORT 41
Jordan
Benjamin 1-5 0-0 2, Dom Cochran 3-6 0-2 6, Lamont Perkins 3-11 7-10 13, Valdez Stuvaints 1-7 0-0 3, Keith Spell 2-4 0-0 4, Jayir Bray 2-2 0-0 4, Brian Jones 3-4 1-1 9. Totals: 15-39 8-14 41.
BUTLER 54
Mavrik Clement 0-1 0-0 0, Donovan Carney 9-16 5-5
24, Ayden Davis 1-6 0-0 2, Braylon Littlejohn 4-8 2-2
11, Jordan Epps 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Braylon Littlejohn 4-8 2-2 11, Tayt
Lucas 1-8 1-2 4, Ayden Andrews 0-2 0-0 0, Stainton
Forbes 3-5 2-2 9, Coleton Welter 1-1 0-0 2, Andrew Gettinger 1-1 0-2 2. Totals: 20-49 10-13
54.
McKeesport 7 3 15 16 — 41
Butler 11 14 16 13 — 54
3-point goals: McKeesport 3 (Stuvaints, Jones
2), Butler 4 (Carney, Littlejohn, T.Lucas, Forbes)