Attracting attention
BUTLER TWP — Around Butler County, incoming Butler sophomore point guard Ethan Morton is already recognized as one of the best in high school basketball.
Now he's being recognized as being among the best prep players in the country.
The 6-foot-5 Morton averaged 13.4 points and 4.6 assists per game for the Golden Tornado last season, running the point as a freshman for a team that reached the WPIAL Class 6A finals. He has been invited to the USA Basketball Junior National Mini-Camp Oct. 6-9 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Morton is one of only 37 players nationwide in the 2019 and 2020 graduating class invited to this camp. Some will be invited back to USA Basketball tryouts in June for a spot on the U.S. basketball team that will compete in the FIBA World Championships.
“No one expects something like this to happen,” said Ryan Morton, Ethan's father. “We were pretty blown away by it.”
Ryan Morton was a 1,000-point scorer at Moniteau High School. His father was the Warriors' head coach.
“Basketball has always been a big part of our family. Ethan has always loved the game,” Ryan Morton said. “He played other sports when he was younger, but basketball has been No. 1 with him for a while.
“He's got great resources, a great support system and a tremendous coach. I can't say enough for Matt Clement and what he's done for him.”
Ethan plays AAU basketball for the Ohio Basketball Club, based in Cleveland. Michael Duncan is the Adidas representative involved with OBC and passed Morton's name along to Jamie Palmer, an Adidas rep at the national level who is involved with USA Basketball.
Palmer and the assistant director of USA Basketball saw Morton's OBC team play a game during the Adidas summer championships in Las Vegas recently.
“I had a good game that night and I talked to that guy (Palmer) the next day,” Morton said. “He said something might happen, that there was a good chance I'd get picked (for the national camp). Still, you don't really believe it'll happen.
“I got the call last week. That was a pretty exciting time for me.”
Morton said his OBC team peaked in July, winning four of five games at a major tournament in South Carolina, three of four games in Louisville and five of six in Las Vegas, reaching the final four in the latter.
He added that he “is blessed for this opportunity to play with the best kids in the country.”
“I've seen these guys on social media and they are incredible players,” Morton said. “Whether I'm selected for the tryouts, no matter what happens, this experience will make me a better player.”
Butler coach Matt Clement said the Adidas representative first picked up on Morton when he came to see the Tornado play Obama Academy last season.
“I've seen the guy a couple of times since,” Clement said. “But they've been following him, reading all of the scouting reports, checking him out.
“This is a tremendous honor for Ethan. He deserves it. He earns everything he gets.”
Entering his sophomore year, Morton has already received full scholarship offrs from Pitt, Penn State, Alabama-Birmingham, Cleveland State, Duquesne and Miami of Ohio.
Clement said another 20 Division I schools continue to look at him. That number will only grow with time.
Yet Morton keeps all of that off to the side.
“It's special, what's going on there,” he admitted. “But I never let it affect how I work. I don't want it to get in my head.
“Instead of making me feel like I'm there and I can stop working now, it motivates me to work harder. Pay too much attention to that stuff, it will bring your game down. I'm not going to let that happen.”
