Slaying Dragons
WEXFORD — The score was even at halftime, but Butler was winning.
The Golden Tornado forced Allderdice out of its preferred up-tempo style and wound up posting a 62-48 victory over the Dragons in a PIAA Class AAAA second-round boys basketball game Wednesday night at North Allegheny.
Butler will face Mount Lebanon (25-3), a 59-33 winner over Gateway, in the quarterfinal round Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
“It was 21-21 at the half and I was fine with that,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We lost a seven-point lead there, but we had the game going at the pace we wanted.”
The Tornado (17-10) scored the first seven points of the third quarter and never trailed in the second half. Cody Herald's third 3-pointer of the game gave Butler a 28-21 lead at the 6:11 mark.
Two-time City League champion Allderdice (18-8) got within four points before Butler closed out the period with a 10-2 run. Bobby Swartwout scored six of those points on two layups and a pair of free throws.
Herald converted a layup and Zach Slater scored on a layup in transition following an Allderdice turnover as the Tornado built a 40-28 lead with eight minutes to play.
The Dragons never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“We knew we couldn't get into a running game with them,” Herald said. “They're too athletic and much faster than us.”
The Tornado sank 16 of 21 free throws in the fourth quarter. Even before Allderdice had to foul, it was in foul trouble.
“I had to keep moving guys around because of our foul situation,” Allderdice coach Andre McDonald said. “I thought the fouls were heavily weighted on us, but that's the way it goes.
“Butler had a good game plan against us and those guys are well-coached. They took us out of what we like to do.”
The Dragons average nearly 15 steals per game and their opponents turn the ball over 20 times per game. Butler had nine turnovers Wednesday.
“We could never force the issue the other way,” McDonald said. “We never got a chance to run. we usually do a decent job against a zone — not tonight.”
Butler's 1-3-1 zone confused and frustrated Allderdice at times. The Dragons had four starters playing with four personal fouls by early in the fourth quarter.
“Once we got the lead in the second half, I stayed on these guys about staying with it, staying focused,” Clement said. “I watched that team explode for 12 points in a minute against Chartiers Valley (last round).“You have to make your free throws late to win games like this. It was nice to have an eight to 10-point cushion there, but we still had to knock them down.”Point guard Nate Snodgrass sank all 10 of his free throws in the fourth quarter.Swartwout paced Butler with 19 points and six rebounds. Herald added 15 points — including all three Tornado 3-pointers — and Snodgrass contributed 12 points and five assists.“Their big kid only had 19? It felt like he had 32,” McDonald said. “He's a load to handle in there.”Ben Mickens paced Allderdice with 17 points and seven rebounds. Eric Mallinger added 10 points and five boards. Justin Dobbs, averaging 20 points per game, was held to eight. He sank just two of 11 field goal attempts.<B>BUTLER 62</B>Nate Snodgrass 0-1 12-12 12, Trevor Wideman 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Herald 4-5 4-10 15, Zach Slater 3-5 2-2 8, Jake Hilliard 0-0 0-0 0, Vinnie Schmidt 3-5 0-1 6, David Tompkins 0-1 0-0 0, Bobby Swartwout 5-8 9-12 19. <B>Totals:</B> 16-26 27-37 62.<B>ALLDERDICE 48</B>Aaron Luster 2-3 0-0 5, Justin Dobbs 2-11 3-6 8, Cameron Bailey 1-4 0-0 2, Eric Mallinger 4-4 2-5 10, Tevin Bell 3-5 0-0 6, Ben Mickens 7-10 3-4 17, Cornelous Rate 0-0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 19-37 8-15 48.<B>Butler 13 8 19 22—62Allderdice 9 12 7 20—483-point goals:</B> Butler 3 (Herald 3); Allderdice 2 (Luster, Dobbs).<B>Saturday:</B> PIAA Class AA quarterfinals: Butler vs. Mount Lebanon-Gateway, site and time TBA
