Morton
stellar in Tornado win
Freshman guard puts up 17 points, dishes out
10 assists as
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
“I never expected anything like this,”
The margin didn’t reach double digits until
early in the third period. Joel Stutz drained a trey less than a minute into
the second half to give
“We missed a lot of easy shots in the first half
and still had the lead (25-17) at intermission,” Clement said. “I told the
guys, if we just relax and hit those easy shots, the lead will grow.”
It did.
And Morton was the ringleader of this show.
He hit a trey to end the third quarter as the
Tornado lead expanded to 45-26. He assisted on four other buckets in the third
quarter alone.
“Nothing Ethan does surprises
me,” Clement said. “He’s been working at his game since first grade. Teams try backing
off him, pressuring him, bullying him. It doesn’t matter.
“The biggest thing I had to do in preseason camp
was to get the veteran guys on this team to trust him, to allow him to mix into
the group. That didn’t take long. They know he can help us win.”
Morton had a pair of steals in the game as well,
both leading to easy buckets in transition the other way.
“Nothing I do happens
without those other guys on the floor with me,” Morton said. “They’ve been
here. They’ve been through it. They give me a sense of security.
“I know they have my back. They’re there for me
and they’re going to come through.”
Tyler Frederick had 16 points and four rebounds
for the Tornado. Jason Gray came off the bench to get a key steal and layup the
other way.
“
“We can shoot the ball from outside and we’re
going to take those open looks. We can penetrate, work the ball down low.
Whatever the defense allows, we’ll take.”
Only four
“I’ve been preaching defense since I’ve been
here,” Clement said. “The kids coming through this system, seventh grade
through ninth grade, know they have to play it if they’re going to play for
us.”
The Tornado forced 13 turnovers in the first
three quarters and had no turnovers themselves in the third period.
Morton said he’ll shoot the ball and try to
jump-start the offense “if I have to, but I prefer to do my job.”
Which is?
“Get the ball in the hands of my teammates to
put them in position to score and do their thing,” he added.
So far, so good in that
regard.
“The more these guys play together, the more
things we’ll be able to do offensively,” Clement said.
BUTLER 58
Luke Michalek 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Yonker 0-0 0-0
0, Jace Stutz 2-4 0-0 4, Ian McCarrier 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Gray 2-3 2-2 6, Tyler
Frederick 8-12 0-0 16, Connor Ollio 3-8 0-0 6, Ethan Morton 5-9 6-6 17, Cade
Negley 0-0 0-0 0, Joel Stutz 2-5 1-1 6, Jefferson Ford 0-0 0-0 0, Phil
Vandergrift 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 23-42 9-9 58.
Lamar Whiting 7-9 3-4 17, Isaiah Horne 54-7 2-2
12, Kevin Brown 0-5 4-4 4, Alex Billstone 0-4 0-0 0, Adam Mahr 0-4 0-0 0,
Xavier Lyons 2-7 1-2 7, Colin Dedert 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-35
10-12 40.
Plum7 10 9 14 — 40
3-point goals: Morton, Jo. Stutz, Vandergrift;
Lyons 2
JV: Butler, 48-38 (B: Tarik Taoufik 16, Isiash
Scribner 13, P: Luke Pupilli 10)