Semi-believable
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Butler's Nate
Snodgrass is carried off the floor by teammates after the Tornado pulled off
a 63-61 victory in overtime over North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class AAAA
quarterfinals at Ambridge. |
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AMBRIDGE — North
Allegheny did everything right.
Sean Hennigan hit both ends of a one-and-one with 26 seconds left
to protect a lead. R.J. Colabrese did likewise with 43.1 and 10.5 seconds left,
respectively.
The Tigers shot 54 percent from the floor, missed just two free
throws all day and held high-scoring Butler guard Nate Snodgrass to two points
in the first half of Saturday's WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal boys basketball
game at Ambridge.
They lost anyway.
Snodgrass forced overtime with an incredulous 3-pointer at the
buzzer, then hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left in overtime to
give the Golden Tornado a 63-61 victory.
“We couldn't have defended the kid any better both times,” North
Allegheny coach Dave DeGregorio said. “Give him credit. He made the shots.”
Cody West was making the shots early. He scored Butler's first 18
points — all on 3-pointers — in the first half and finished with a career-high
26 points. He sank a WPIAL Tournament record-tying eight treys on the day.
“Without Cody, we're down 15 or 20 points at halftime and we're
done,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Simple as that.
“The last time I was in this building, I hit seven 3-pointers.
Cody topped that. He was fantastic.”
Snodgrass finished with 34 points and six assists, Butler's
backcourt accounting for 60 of the team's 63 points. David Tompkins scored the
other three and had eight of his team's 21 rebounds.
“I didn't play well at all in the first half,” Snodgrass said.
“Cody saved us. He was on fire.”
“The guys were setting good screens again and they (Tigers) were
trying to take Nate away,” West said. “My shot kept coming open and I was
feeling it.”
North Allegheny (16-7) had a seven-point lead at halftime and led
by as many as nine (35-26) with 5:07 to go in the third quarter.
That's when Snodgrass heated up.
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Butler’s Cody West
dribbles between his legs Saturday during Butler’s dramatic victory over
North Allegheny in the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals. West poured in a
career-high 26 points in the OT win. |
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He scored 14 points in
the third quarter, 16 more in the fourth. The game was tied five times and the
lead changed hands on 12 occasions.
Despite Butler's backcourt heroics, it appeared the Tigers would
hold on to win. Colabrese's two free throws with 43.1 seconds left gave NA a
57-53 lead. Snodgrass answered with a layup before Hennigan's free throws made
it 59-55 with 26 seconds to play.
West responded with his eighth trey of the game. Colabrese sank
two more free throws with 10.5 ticks on the clock and NA had a 61-58 lead.
Snodgrass brought the ball up the floor and launched a 3-pointer,
leaning into two defenders to draw contact while doing so. No foul was called,
but the shot went in, just before the buzzer.
Somehow.
“I have no idea. I got lucky on that one,” Snodgrass said. “They
had me covered. I was trying to draw a foul call.
“When nothing was called, I just tossed one up.”
North Allegheny won the tip to begin overtime, missed a shot and
Butler took possession. The Tigers sagged back on defense and the Tornado
maintained possession.
Clement called timeout with 1:59 left when Luke Hartung had the
ball in traffic. Snodgrass was tied up with 19 seconds to go, but the
possession arrow pointed in Butler's direction.
“I knew they weren't going to trap Nate, but I feared they might
trap someone else in a corner,” Clement said. “We were trying to avoid that.”
NA was in no hurry to challenge Snodgrass.
“Come up on him and he blows right by you,” DeGregorio said. “You
can't foul him because he never misses.
“We had to take our chances, sit back and play defense.”
With a hand in his face, Snodgrass hit the game-winning jumper
with time nearly expired.
Snodgrass averaged 32.3 points per game in Butler's three wins
over NA this season, hitting 40 of 43 free throws.
“No matter what else is happening out there ... Nate is
ultimately going to carry us,” West said.
North Allegheny nearly answered Snodgrass' final shot Saturday —
but not to be.
The Tigers called timeout immediately after the Snodgrass bucket.
The officials conferred and put two seconds on the clock.
NA threw a long inbounds pass to 6-foot-3 senior Ricky
Minsterman, who outleaped defenders for the ball just across midcourt. He
turned and fired toward the basket, just before the buzzer.
The ball rolled around the rim — and out.
“I thought it was going in,” DeGregorio admitted.
“If that shot had fallen, I couldn't have complained,” Clement
said. “Officials have a tough job working games like this one. Everything's a
scramble and things are crazy. They do the best they can at determining how
much time should be on the clock.”
Butler (13-11) will face Gateway (18-6) — a 60-57 overtime winner
over Seneca Valley — in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Fox Chapel.
Saturday's win gives the Tornado a berth into the state
tournament.
NORTH ALLEGHENY 61
Sean Hennigan 1-3 2-3 4, Ty Neff 2-3 2-2 6, JC Howard 5-12 0-0
11, R.J. Colabrese 5-7 4-4 14, David Haus 4-6 0-0 9, Adam Haus 1-3 0-0 2, Scott
Blumer 2-3 0-0 4, Ricky Minsterman 5-8 1-2 11.Totals: 25-46 9-11 61
BUTLER 63
Nate Snodgrass 12-19 8-8 34, Keenan Krause 0-0 0-0 0, Cody West 9-15 0-0
26, Dom Pusateri 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Hartung 0-4 0-0 0, Matt Baranchak 0-1 0-0 0,
David Tompkins 1-4 1-3 3, Trevor Wideman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-44 9-11 63.
North Allegheny 16 12 17 16 0 —61
Butler 12 9 19 21 2—63
3-point goals: North
Allegheny 2 (Howard, D.Haus); Butler 10 (West 8, Snodgrass 2).
Wednesday: WPIAL Class AAAA semifinal-Butler vs. Gateway, 8 p.m., at Fox Chapel