Butler boys sprint past TJ
The Golden Tornado used a 14-0 run in the second half to put
away a 52-37 boys basketball victory Saturday in the consolation game of the
Bethel Park Tip-Off Tournament.
“You could say we clamped down on defense — and we did— but
Luke Hartung was a big factor during that stretch,”
“Luke plays out on a wing offensively, but it’s a nice luxury
to have that 6-foot-3, 205-pound body who can defend inside and play rough in
there.”
Joe Carroll drained a 3-pointer moments after Zach Schademan
stuck back an offensive rebound to pull Thomas Jefferson within 36-28 with
The Tornado answered this surge with a free throw and
3-pointer by Nick Patten before the end of the period. Butler then scored the
first 10 points of the fourth quarter.
The Jaguars went eight minutes and 41 seconds without a field
goal, 7:56 without a point at all during that stretch.
“Defense was critical to us in this game and it will be
critical to us in every game,” Hartung said. “We don’t have that one big scorer
who’s going to light it up every night, so we have to contain the other team.
“I was able to slide over into the lane and help out. That
works when I can get back over to guard my man.”
The Jaguars (0-2) were held below 40 points for the second
consecutive game.
“We’re not being patient enough. What bothered me is we never
got into our sets offensively,” Thomas Jefferson coach Dom DeCicco said. “We’d
make one or two passes and toss one up.”
Patten and center Mark Gross — a pair of sophomores — paced
the Tornado with 10 points each. Gross and Seth Cook both had six of Butler’s
38 rebounds. Seth Horwat snared five boards.
Neither Patten nor Gross started the game.
“Our two leading scorers today are getting ready to play a JV
game right now,” Clement said. “That’s the kind of depth we have. We had
14-to-16 guys play quality varsity minutes in this game.
“We’ve got plenty of parts to work with. Some night, we’ll
use plenty of them. Other nights, we may not. But everyone has to be ready to
play when he’s called upon.”
Adam Miller came off the bench to score 10 points for Thomas
Jefferson. Winovich had eight of the Jaguars’ 36 rebounds.
Butler proved tough to contend with in the post for the
second straight game.
“Their big people can score in there,” DeCicco said. “We
wanted to keep them 6-to-8 feet away from the basket. Instead, they were
receiving passes 2-to-4 feet from the basket.”
Twenty-eight total players participated in the varsity game.
Butler (1-1) faces New Castle Tuesday night in the Tornado’s
home opener. It’s also the section opener for both teams.
“New Castle is playing in Florida over the break and asked us
to switch our game to Tuesday,” Clement said. “I don’t mind ... I’m sure they
would return the favor some day.
“New Castle is the class of the WPIAL and maybe the state
this year. They bring a lot of people with them when they travel, so that
atmosphere should be something. I think our kids are up to the challenge.”
BUTLER 52
Dom Pusateri 1-2 3-3 5, Seth Cook 4-7 1-1 9, Keenan Krause
1-3 4-6 6, Zach Neudorfer 0-1 0-0 0, Arum Krause 1-3 0-2 2, Seth Horwat 0-0 0-0
0, Nick Patten 3-8 1-2 10, Andrew Parterno 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Hartung 3-6 0-0 8,
Luke Tincha 1-2 0-0 2, Mark Gross 5-5 0-1 10, Shae Stobert 0-2 0-0 0, Travis
Reed 0-1 0-0, Justice Lewandowski 0-1 0-0 0, Alec Geibel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals:
19-43 9-16 52.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 37
Joe Carroll 3-8 0-1 8, Zach Schademan 2-4 0-3 4, Chase
Winovich 1-5 1-4 3, Jason Horan 0-4 0-0 0, Zach Good 0-1 0-0 0, Adam Miller 3-9
4-6 10, Zach Talley 2-3 0-0 4, Charlie Scharbo 0-2 0-0 0, Ben Miscavage 1-6 2-3
5, Dan Terpin 0-0 0-1 0, Steven Andros 1-1 0-0 2, Russell Seiss 0-0 1-2 1, Eric
Fairman 0-4 0-0 0, Frankie Langdon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-48 8-22 37.
Butler 22 10 8 12—52
Tho. Jefferson10 11 7 9—37
3-pointers: Patten 3, Hartung 2; Carroll 2, Miscavage
JV: Butler, 48-44 (B: Arum Krause 11, Eric Hindman 8, Justice
Lewandowski 8)