Tornado lose it at the line
PINE TWP — Pine-Richland couldn't stop Bobby Swartwout. Then again, the Rams didn't have to.
Swartwout scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter — Butler's final 11 points of the game. But Pine-Richland sank six consecutive free throws in the final two minutes to hold off the Golden Tornado for a 53-49 boys basketball section victory Friday night.
The Rams (6-11, 3-5) didn't miss a free throw until Eric Holmes misfired with 14 seconds remaining.
"We've been strong at the line all year," Pine-Richland coach Brian Gaetano said. "We've been a pretty good basketball team overall the past few games, but lost some games we shouldn't have lost.
"Our kids never lost confidence through all that. Tonight, they were rewarded."
Pine-Richland trailed 17-13 with 5:36 left in the first half before going on a 14-2 run to assume a 27-19 lead at intermission. The Tornado (14-2, 7-2) got as close as two points in the final minute.
"In a game like this, we needed a couple of stops and couldn't get them," Butler coach Matt Clement said.
The Rams shot 25 percent and failed to sink a 3-pointer in their 51-35 loss at Butler Jan. 5. They shot 48 percent and canned six treys in Friday's victory.
"We're much healthier now than we were back then," Gaetano said.
The Rams' biggest lead was nine points with 55 seconds left in the third quarter. Butler trailed 47-39 with 3:07 to play and began chopping away at the deficit from there.
Swartwout completed a three-point play, then drained his second 3-pointer of the night to trim the margin to two points with 2:37 left.
But the Rams' Eric Holmes sank four free throws and Chris Rader made two in the final two minutes to hold off the Tornado.
"Pine-Richland was the better team on the floor tonight and they won the game," Clement said. "But if we play Butler basketball, we win this game easily.
"You go 11-of-20 at the line in a section road game, you're going to lose. We only got to five loose balls tonight. We only took one charge when they were spreading the floor and driving to the hoop all night.
"Things we usually do well we didn't do well tonight," Clement added.
Swartwout scored 19 points in the second half. The rest of Butler's lineup scored 11."We had a poor matchup against him down low and they took advantage of that down the stretch," Gaetano said. "That kid knows how to score points inside."Swartwout and Jeff Tompkins each had six of Butler's 24 rebounds. Nate Snodgrass contributed 12 points.Butler won three of the four quarters, but was outscored 17-6 in the second period."When you're trying to win a section title, that can't happen," Clement said.Holmes paced Pine-Richland with 15 points. Rader and Andy Andrle added 10 each, and Ben Brown had five of 22 Rams rebounds.The victory keeps Pine-Richland in control of the fourth and final WPIAL playoff berth in Section 3."We know we control our own fate that way," Gaetano said. "Tonight's win keeps us in good position, but we have Central Catholic on Tuesday. We can't look any farther ahead than that."Butler has dropped two of its last three games."We worked so hard to build community support, had a tremendous following at this road game tonight," Clement said. "Losing the game in front of all these people makes me feel bad."Our kids feel badly, too, but I know these kids. They're fighters. They're going to be anxious to right the ship."<B>BUTLER 49</B>Nate Snodgrass 3-5 6-8 12, Eli Christy 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Renwick 1-2 0-1 2, Brian Jendesky 0-0 2-4 2, Cody Herald 1-3 0-0 2, Jeff Tompkins 1-3 0-2 2, Vinny Schmidt 1-6 0-0 2, Bobby Swartwout 10-19 3-5 25. <B>Totals:</B> 18-39 11-20 49.<B>PINE-RICHLAND 53</B>Eric Holmes 4-7 5-6 15, Brock Baranowski 0-1 0-0 0, Andy Andrle 4-9 0-0 10, Collin Ryan 2-5 0-0 5, Chris Rader 3-6 4-4 10, Ed Baranowski 1-3 2-2 5, Ben Brown 3-5 2-2 8. <B>Totals:</B> 17-36 13-14 53.<B>Butler 13 6 14 16—49Pine-Richland 10 17 12 14—533-point goals:</B> Butler 2 (Swartwout 2), Pine-Richland 6 (Holmes 2, Andrle 2, Ryan, Baranowski)<B>Junior varsity: </B>Butler, 42-32 (B: David Tompkins 12, Zach Slater 11; P-R: Tyler Johnson 11)<B>Tuesday:</B> North Allegheny at Butler
