A Fitting Finale
BUTLER TWP — Senior Night was about two things Monday night for the Butler boys basketball team.
Pay appropriate homage to seniors Isaiah Scribner, Colby Anderson and Kevin King. Maintain momentum going into the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs.
Mission accomplished on both ends.
All three seniors started and played the entire first quarter, Butler's defense forced 20 turnovers and produced numerous transition buckets in a 67-54 victory over Hampton.
“We want to carry momentum into the playoffs,” junior guard-forward Luke Patten said. “That was important and I liked the way we played tonight.”
Anderson and King both drained treys in the opening quarter. Scribner, a starter all season, had three rebounds and blocked a couple of shots on the night.
“With Isaiah, basketball and track probably carry the same weight for him,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Baseball is the No. 1 sport for Colby and Kevin.
“It would have been easy for them to forego basketball this year and concentrate on baseball. But they wanted to be a part of this team and they'll leave this school with special memories that way because of it.”
Hampton (12-9), a WPIAL Class 5A playoff team, hung around most of the night. The Talbots got within 54-47 on a Colby Mignogna trey with 3:33 to play. Butler (17-4) answered with a 7-0 run to put the game away.
Mattix Clement canned a trey, Ethan Morton a pair of free throws and Mason Montag a layup to hike the Golden Tornado lead to 61-47 with less than two minutes remaining.
Butler converted a number of layups by stealing the ball above the 3-point arc and driving uncontested the other way.
“We haven't been turning people over like that. It was good to see tonight,” Morton said.
The Tornado placed four players in double figures for the second successive game. Butler has won four straight and eight of its last nine.
“When you lose the ball out front like that, there is no defense when it goes the other way,” Talbots coach Joe Lafko said. “Give Butler credit. They forced us into a lot of mistakes that way.
“They are a good team and Ethan Morton is one of the best players in the state. They showed us some things with their zone we haven't seen before. Hopefully, that helps us in the playoffs.”
Morton had 22 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals to lead Butler. Patten had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Clement had 11 points — hitting three treys — and had four steals. Devin Carney scored 10 points.
“Mattix was getting his hands on a lot of basketballs tonight,” Coach Clement said. “He was able to deflect a lot of balls away.
“Defensively, we've been getting a lot of deflections and haven't done a whole lot with them. Tonight, we did.”
Patten credited Carney and Mattix Clement's play at the top of Butler's zone for forcing the turnovers.“Those guys were active the whole game, disrupting things,” he said.Ben Ringeisen, Hampton's 6-foot-5 center, led the Talbots with 23 points and 12 rebounds. He added three assists and three steals.“Ben is a matchup problem for a lot of teams,” Lafko said.Mignogna added 12 points and six boards, Luke Lindgren nine points, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals for the Talbots.Both teams will learn their playoff opponents at the WPIAL postseason meeting Tuesday night in Green Tree.“It's time to focus even harder now,” Clement said of the playoffs. “You go one game at a time and hopefully we'll be around to play the fourth one.“We'll wait and see where we're seeded. I can't lobby for a high seed or anything like that. We'll wait and see where it lands and go from there.”HAMPTON 54Brandon Sickles 2-4 0-0 4, Luke Lindgren 4-7 0-0 9, Josh Winek 1-7 0-0 3, Ben Ringeisen 10-14 3-5 23, Colby Mignogna 5-8 1-1 12, Quinn Morrow 1-4 0-0 3. Totals: 23-44 4-7 54.BUTLER 67Devin Carney 5-10 0-0 10, Colby Anderson 1-2 0-0 3, Kevin King 1-2 0-0 3, Mattix Clement 4-11 0-0 11, Luke Patten 4-8 3-3 11, Charlie Kreinbucher 0-0 0-0 0, Mason Montag 3-6 1-2 7, Ethan Morton 6-10 8-8 22, Isaiah Scribner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-56 12-13 67.Hampton 15 8 13 18 — 54Butler16 21 6 24 — 673-point goals: Lindgren, Winek, Mignogna, Morrow; Anderson, King, Clement 3, Morton 2JV: Butler, 61-47 (H: Seth Koontz 13, Colin Murray 12; B: Dom McCowan 16, Raine Gratzmiller 15, Charlie Kreinbucher 12)Next: WPIAL playoffs, TBA
