Butler boys drive past Trinity for 60-51 tournament triumph


 


WASHINGTON — Christian Koroly jogged toward the Trinity bench and yelled, “Coach!” 

Stan Noszka, still slumped in his chair following another drive to the hoop by Butler and another foul by one of his players, looked up at Koroly in the hopes his senior guard would have an epiphany to turn the tide. 

“They’re beating us to the hoop,” Koroly said Noszka. “We need to make them shoot.” 
That was easier said than done Friday night as Butler got to the rim and got there often in a 60-51 win on Trinity’s home floor. 

It was the second victory in as many days for the Golden Tornado and it came in convincing fashion. 
“I’d say tonight was probably our best 32-minute effort overall,” said Butler coach Matt Clement. 

It was by far Butler’s most effective night in the paint. 

Arum Krause cut through the lane and to the rim for 14 points. Seth Cook, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, added 13 points in the paint and grabbed a handful of key rebounds and Mark Gross, a 6-2 forward who plays bigger than his size, came off the bench to score 11. 
More than half of the Tornado’s points came inside. 
“I hope this tournament will be a coming-out party for Arum Krause,” Clement said. “He had two really good games the last two nights and took the ball to the hoop.” 
Butler (4-5), though, got off to a bit of a slow start, trailing 13-10 at the end of the first quarter. 
But the Golden Tornado asserted itself in the second quarter, outscoring the Hillers 17-4 to take a 10-point lead at the half. 
The bench keyed the quarter as Nick Patten, Gross and Shea Stobert scored nine of those points. 
The deep bench is something Clement already has relied upon this season. 
“I believe in all 16 we have dressed,” Clement said. “And all have already seen meaningful minutes this year.” 
The reserves may take on an even bigger role with the loss of 6-5 senior Seth Horwat, who broke his thumb in the win Thursday night against Canon-McMillan. 
“Losing Horwat to a thumb injury is a big blow for us,” Clement said. “He’s someone we can count on. He’s started almost every game this year. That hurts us.” 
Horwat is likely to be out for much of, if not the entire, season. 
Butler opened up a 17-point lead in the third quarter before Trinity made a push. 
The Hillers, though, never got as close eight. 
“I thought the defensive intensity (was there) — they didn’t get any easy shots off,” Clement said. “(Koroly) is a really good player, one of the best I’ve seen on tape this year and he worked (for every point).” 
Butler now has won three of its last four as it prepares to enter its difficult section schedule full blast beginning next Friday. 
“I told the guys we had four games to get ready for the grind,” Clement said. “The biggest win was the Pine-Richland one because it was a section game. Then we probably couldn’t have played a worse game against Kiski. But to come off that Kiski game and come in here tonight — that’s a very good win for us.” 
BUTLER 60 
Dom Pusateri 3-7 0-1 7, Seth Cook 6-10 1-1 13, Keenan Krause 1-3 1-2 3, Arum Krause 5-7 4-6 14, Luke Hartung 2-5 2-2 6, Nick Patten 1-1 0-0 3, Mark Gross 4-5 3-6 11, Luke Tincha 0-1 0-0 0, Shea Stobert 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 23-40 12-19 60. 
TRINITY 51 
Christian Koroly 6-13 7-8 20, Corey Hunsberger 2-12 5-7 9, Jared Deep 4-9 0-1 8, Berton Miller 2-9 1-2 5, Steve Vorum 1-3 0-0 2, Nick Moretti 3-5 0-0 7, Brandon McGavit 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-51 13-18 51. 
Butler 10 17 19 14—60 
Trinity13 4 17 17—51 
3-point goals: Butler 2 (Pusateri, Patten). Trinity 2 (Koroly, Moretti)