JACKSON TWP— When Seneca Valley trailed 18-6 Wednesday night with an offense as cold as ice, it was a recipe for disaster.

Then Gabe Grinder provided the missing ingredient.

The Raiders' 6-foot-5 senior guard sank three 3-pointers in the second quarter — with the third giving his team the lead for the first time — as Seneca Valley rallied for a 41-37 boys basketball victory over Butler.

The win marked the Raiders' first section triumph at home in three years.

"We needed this,"Seneca Valley coach Vic Giannotta said. "I don't care how we got it. We'll take it."

The Raiders missed their first nine shots from the field in falling behind 14-2 in the first quarter. The drought didn't end until Kevin Mayberry stuck back an offensive rebound with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

"The ball becomes heavy when you start a game like that,"Giannotta said. "It turns into a bowling ball."

When Butler's Austin Snodgrass sank a 3-pointer with 7:06 remaining in the first half, the Tornado (6-6, 0-3)had an 18-6 lead.

And Grinder got his hands on the basketball.

"The coaches told me to get in there and let it fly,"Grinder said. "First open look I got, it was way beyond the stripe, but I let it rip."

The ball ripped nothing but cords. Another Grinder trey cut the gap to 18-13. His third of the quarter gave the Raiders a 20-19 lead with 1:42 left in the half.

When Pat Heery added two free throws, Seneca Valley (8-4, 2-2)had built a 16-1 run and went into halftime with a 22-19 lead.

"That kid's a senior and he did what he was supposed to do: come in and make plays,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said of Grinder.

Butler's offense went into a funk once Sean Lowry went to the bench with two fouls early in the second quarter. ACody Fleeger layup with 4:32 left in the third quarter ended a stretch of 10 minutes, 34 seconds without a Tornado field goal.

Grinder sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third quarter that gave the Raiders a 33-24 advantage. He led Seneca Valley with 14 points, including a career-high four 3-pointers.

"My release just felt good tonight,"Grinder said. "Butler's a scrappy team and we didn't think the game was over then. ... But we felt like we were in control."

Butler fought back in the final period, a Lowry 3-pointer cutting the gap to 36-32 with 1:57 remaining. Two Lowry free throws made it 36-34 with 1:47 on the clock.

"That fourth quarter seemed like forever,"Giannotta admitted.

Two Heery free throws, followed by one by Mike Pratkanis for Butler, gave the Raiders a 38-35 lead in the final minute. Aaron Dorondo stole the ball for the Tornado, but Jeff Slater's 3-point shot that would have tied the game hit the rim short.

Mayberry hit a free throw with 30 seconds left and Heery added two more with 4.4 seconds to go to put the game away for Seneca Valley.

"Fourth-quarter free throws are huge and we hit enough of them to win,"Giannotta said. "Butler knew what they had to do to beat us tonight, but this gym was packed and filled with energy — and we fed off the energy Gabe gave us with those 3-pointers."

Heery added 10 points for the Raiders while Mayberry added nine points and seven of his team's 25 rebounds.

Lowry had 16 points and 11 of 24 Butler rebounds. Fleeger contributed 10 points. The Tornado suffered 20 turnovers to Seneca Valley's 14.

"Turnovers are our kryptonite,"Lewandowski said. "At one point in the fourth quarter, we turned it over on eight of 11 possessions.

"We were getting stops on defense, but stops and turnovers don't work. You need stops and a few points mixed in there. At some point, our young guys have to come together on the floor and make the right decisions to win games."

BUTLER 37Mike Pratkanis 1-6 3-6 6, Aaron Dorondo 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Fleeger 4-10 0-0 10, Jace Lumley 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Deangelis 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Melder 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Lowry 6-12 3-4 16, Chris Klutinoty 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Snodgrass 2-4 0-0 5, Jeff Slater 0-2 0-0 0.

Totals: 13-35 6-10 37

SENECA VALLEY 41Gabe Grinder 5-8 0-0 14, Kevin Mayberry 4-10 1-2 9, Kevin Rohm 0-3 0-0 0, Pat Heery 1-4 8-10 10, C.J. Brown 1-3 0-2 2, John Fitzpatrick 0-1 1-2 1, Shawn Eagle 1-3 3-4 5, Jarrett Shotts 0-2 0-0 0.

Totals: 12-34 13-20 41

Butler 15 4 5 13—37Seneca Valley 6 16 11 8—413-point goals: Pratkanis, Fleeger 2, Lowry, Snodgrass; Grinder 4

JV: Seneca Valley, 61-49 (SV-Sean Gress 17, Tony Tresser 15, Dustin Anewalt 10; B-Jeff Slater 14)

Friday: Pine-Richland at Butler, Seneca Valley at North Hills

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