Long Openers
JEFFERSON TWP — Not bad for openers.
Butler and Knoch used different methods to get there, but both wound up playing overtime games in the first round of the King of the Court Boys Basketball Classic Friday night at Knoch High.
The Golden Tornado defeated Slippery Rock 67-60 while the Knights dropped a 60-54 decision to Cleveland Central Catholic.
Butler opened a 17-9 lead on the Rockets in the early moments of the second quarter, but an eight-point run by Slippery Rock quickly wiped out the deficit.
In fact, from the 6:42 mark of the second quarter until 18 seconds remained in overtime, neither team managed more than a four-point lead.
"This was a tremendous game,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "Before the outcome was even decided, I figured we got more out of this game than we could have imagined.
"We found out what we have in a lot of ways tonight."
So did Slippery Rock.
Ryan Gordon's fifth 3-pointer of the night for the Rockets tied the game at 56 with 30 seconds left in regulation. Two Logan Renwick free throws regained the lead for Butler, but a Derrick Orloski layup with seven seconds left forced overtime.
The Rockets misfired on all five of their field goal attempts in the extra session. ARenwick layup gave his team the lead for good at 62-60 with 2:10 left.
Slippery Rock suffered 25 turnovers and point guard Ethan Geisler fouled out with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter.
"(Geisler) took two fouls early in the first quarter and we attacked him after that,"Lewandowski said. "Whoever he was guarding had the freedom to drive to the basket."
Orloski fouled out late in overtime and a third Slippery Rock starter, Brent Ayers, picked up four fouls in the second half.
"The fouls hurt us a little bit, but I was thrilled with the way everyone we put on the court responded to the challenge,"said first-year Rockets coach Phil Bushre.
Renwick had 19 points and four assists for the Golden Tornado while Bobby Swartwout had 19 points and eight rebounds. Jeff Tompkins contributed 12 points, including four in overtime. Freshman guard Nate Snodgrass had four steals.
Gordon paced Slippery Rock with 15 points. Orloski added 13 points and six boards while Brian Geisler had 13 points.
"Every time we'd try to get some distance on the scoreboard, they'd hit a big shot,"Lewandowski said of Slippery Rock. "But I think our defense eventually wore them down in overtime."
Overtime was the furthest thing from Knoch's mind in the second quarter. The Knights managed just one point in a stretch of eight minutes in falling behind Cleveland Central Catholic 25-10 with 4:11 left in the first half.
Knoch whittled away at the deficit, however, and trailed 50-48 as Chris Cetnar stepped to the foul line with 22.2 seconds left in regulation.
Cetnar missed both free throws, but Jake McTighe stuck back an offensive rebound to knot the game. Brandon Campbell missed a shot at the buzzer for Central Catholic and the contest went into overtime.
The visiting Ironmen won two playoff games in Ohio last year and return all but one starter. They took the lead for good when 6-foot-8 Anton Grady stuck back an offensive rebound for a 56-54 advantage with 1:40 left.Grady, who is being recruited by Louisville, blocked a McTighe shot at the other end and an offensive stickback by Chall Montgomery with 25 seconds left finally sealed the victory."They were athletic and they gave us trouble at times on the offensive glass,"Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said.McTighe had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Knights while Micah Lio had 10 boards. Michael Gallagher had 11 points for Knoch, but sank only four of 18 shots."We never got into our flow offensively and part of that was not getting the ball to Michael in position to score,"Andreassi said.Central Catholic had a 40-31 edge in rebounding. Both teams had 15 turnovers.Campbell paced Central Catholic with 21 points. Grady had 10 points and 11 rebounds."McTighe, Lio and Brandon Flick, our three forwards, all played well for us,"Andreassi said. "This was good for us. You learn a lot about your team in a game like this."<B>SLIPPERY ROCK 60Ethan Geisler 2-7 3-4 7, Ryan Gordon 5-8 0-0 15, Alec McDeavitt 2-4 4-6 8, Andrew Waryanka 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Whitney 1-1 0-0 2, Brant Sloan 0-2 0-0 0, Derrick Orloski 4-6 5-6 13, Brian Giesler 5-9 1-2 13, Brent Ayers 1-4 0-0 2. </B>Totals: 20-41 13-18 60<B>BUTLER 67Logan Renwick 7-11 5-7 19, Nate Snodgrass 0-3 2-4 2, Jeff Tompkins 5-11 2-2 12, Dave Schmidt 2-5 0-0 4, Bob Swartwout 7-11 4-6 19, Cole Harvey 2-4 2-3 8, Eric King 1-1 0-0 3.</B> Totals: 24-46 15-23 67<B>Slippery Rock 9 20 10 19 2—60Butler 16 9 16 17 9—673-point goals:</B> Gordon 5, Giesler 2; Swartwout, Harvey 2, King<B>JV:</B> Butler, 44-28 (B:Cody West 16, SR:Steve Drake, Alec McDeavitt 8)<B>CLEVELAND CENT.CATHOLIC 60Isaiah Shakespeare 1-1 1-2 4, Chall Montgomery 3-9 1-2 7, Derrick Buford 3-10 1-2 7, Brandon Campbell 9-21 2-2 21, Tra'Vaughn Moore 0-5 1-2 1, Demetrius Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Anton Grady 5-11 0-0 10, Marvin Davis 2-3 0-0 4, Marcus Arendes 3-3 0-0 6. </B>Totals: 26-63 6-10 60<B>KNOCH 54Chris Cetnar 0-4 2-4 2, Andrew Wirtz 3-9 1-2 8, Micah Lio 3-6 3-4 9, Jake McTighe 9-11 1-2 20, Michael Gallagher 4-18 1-2 11, Cory Miller 1-2 0-0 2, Brandon Flick 1-1 0-0 2, Kevin Wood 0-1 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 21-52 8-14 54<B>Central Catholic 13 16 8 13 10—60Knoch 9 12 13 16 4—543-point goals:</B> Shakespeare, Campbell; Wirtz, McTighe, Gallagher 2<B>JV:</B> Central Catholic, 49-43 (K:Nathan Junk 16)<B>Saturday:</B> at Butler High School:Slippery Rock vs. Knoch, 12:30 p.m.; Central Catholic vs. Butler, 2 p.m.
