Nate's Night
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Butler's Nate
Snodgrass is surrounded by North Allegheny's Hashim Hyder, Ty Neff and J.C.
Howard Tuesday night during the Tornado's crucial Section 3-AAAA win over the
Tigers. Snodgrass poured in 42 points, surpassing the 1,000-point milestone
for his career. |
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BUTLER TWP —
Nate Snodgrass struck for a career-high 42 points Tuesday night,
tossed in 10 assists, five rebounds and four steals, and led Butler to a
critical 81-60 Section 3-AAAA boys basketball victory over North Allegheny.
In the process, Snodgrass became the seventh player in
“Coach told me before the game he wanted the ball in my hands a
lot tonight and for me to take it to the basket,” Snodgrass said. “It just
seemed like everything was going in.
“This is a special night for me, that's for sure. But it's a big
win for the team and that's more important.”
The Golden Tornado (10-9, 5-5) trailed 17-12 late in the first
quarter before using a 16-2 run to assume a 28-19 advantage midway through the
second period.
Snodgrass scored four of those points. Luke Hartung drained a
buzzer-beating trey to end the first quarter and concluded the run with a steal
and layup. Dom Pusateri sank four free throws during the spurt.
The Tigers (10-6, 5-4) never regained the lead and never got the
deficit out of double digits in the second half.
“Nate took this game over,”
Hartung scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench
for
“The strange thing about tonight is we could have lost despite
Nate's 42,” Clement said. “Everybody else's contributions were needed and they
were there.
“Luke was coming off one of his lowest games at Pine-Richland and
played his best game of the year. He just played basketball. He allowed the
game to come to him. He took two charges. He hit a 3. He grabbed offensive
boards and finished plays.”
Hartung said his father,
“The plays were there for me to make,” Luke Hartung said. “Any
player would like to start games, but you take the minutes when you get them
and try to make them count.”
JC Howard scored 19 points for
Many of NA's fouls were used trying to slow Snodgrass, who sank
20 of 21 free throws.
“Nate played very well. ... He made a lot of big plays,” dejected
NA coach Dave DeGregorio said.
The Tornado swept the Tigers this regular season, scoring a 75-69
win on NA's floor Jan. 6.
“You have to go back a lot of years to find the last time
“They did everything they could to keep the ball out of Nate's
hands from the opening tip and he still scores 42. That shows the kind of
player he is.”
Hartung said beating NA in
“They blew us out here the past two years,” he said. “We
reclaimed our home floor tonight and that was important to us.”
So, too, is the WPIAL playoff chase.
“We were on the verge of being pushed out of the race,” Clement
said. “Nate pulled us back in.”
Notes:
NORTH
ALLEGHENY 60
Sean Hennigan 1-5 4-4 7, Ty Neff 1-1 0-0 2, JC Howard 6-`14 5-5
19, RJ Colabrese 2-2 3-4 7, David Haus 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Soyster 1-2 0-0 3,
Patrick Yates 0-2 0-0 0, Adam Haus 4-8 5-6 13, Hashim Hyder 1-4 0-0 2, Scott
Blumer 0-0 2-2 2, Ricky Minsterman 1-4 1-1 3. Totals: 18-44 20-23 60.
BUTLER 81
Nate Snodgrass 11-16 20-21 42, Keenan Krause 0-2 0-0 0, Zach Neudorfer 1-1
0-0 2, Cody West 0-3 0-1 0, Seth Horwat 0-0 0-2 0, Trevor Wideman 2-4 0-0 4,
Dom Pusateri 2-2 4-4 10, Luke Hartung 7-10 0-3 15, Matt Baranchak 0-0 0-0 0,
David Tompkins 3-3 1-2 8, Shae Stobert 0-1 0-0 0. Totals:26-42 25-33 81.
3-point goals: North Allegheny 4 (Hennigan, Howard 2, Soyster);
Junior varsity: