Big 1st quarter sparks SV victory
BUTLER TWP — Seneca Valley worked its game-plan to near perfection.
Butler's game-plan got lost in the translation.
The result was a 58-38 Raider victory on the road in Section 3-AAAA boys basketball action Tuesday night.
“Any road win in this section is beneficial to your playoff hopes,” SV coach Victor Giannotta said. “We wanted to keep No. 23 (Nick Patten) and 22 (Andrew Paterno) out of double figures.
“If we did that, we figured we'd be able to stay in this game.”
They did that — and ran away with the game.
The Raiders (7-6, 3-4) limited Paterno to 12 points and Patten three. Neither scored at all in the first quarter as Seneca Valley built a double-digit lead it never lost.
The visitors scored 18 of the quarter's final 20 points to assume a 21-6 lead after eight minutes. Butler (4-10, 1-6) never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Zach Snyder sank four layups in the first quarter for SV while Dakota Topf drained three treys in the game's first 13 minutes.
“We talked to the kids right before the game about what we had to do defensively,” Golden Tornado coach Matt Clement said. “Keep Snyder from getting to the basket and not allow Topf to get open for three's.
“They (Raiders) didn't run anything special offensively. They just passed the ball around until he got open. We didn't defend.”
Nothing was working for the Tornado offensively as they were held to a season-low 38 points.
“When you go 1-for-20 on 3-point shots, you're not going to win,” Clement said. “We knew they would set up their defense to take away Nick and Andrew. I knew that was coming and I was worried about it for two days. But you have to respond to that.
“Nick and Andrew have to battle through and contribute in other ways. At times, they did tonight, at times they didn't. And guys who are left open have to hit some shots. That's an attitude, a growth, whatever you want to call it ... It's a hump we haven't gotten over yet.”
Topf led the Raiders with 16 points. Snyder contributed 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Mike Smith had 13 points.“We had balanced scoring tonight. We distributed the ball well,” Giannotta said.T.J. Holl had seven rebounds and four assists while Matt Darby dished out six assists for SV.“Matt's learning ... He's turning into a pretty good point guard,” Giannotta said. “Darby and Holl are the guys we expect to be leaders this year because they're the guys who return with a lot of minutes from last year.”Tyler Frederick had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench for Butler. Mark Gross had seven boards as well, but the Tornado were out-rebounded, 32-25.“We did well on the glass tonight,” Giannotta said.While Seneca Valley snapped a three-game losing streak, Butler lost for the ninth time in 11 games.“We were down by 15 after one quarter and lost by 20,” Clement said. “This game was lost early.”SENECA VALLEY 58Zach Snyder 6-8 1-2 13, Matt Darby 1-5 1-2 4, Chad Izenas 0-4 1-4 1, Dakota Topf 5-9 3-4 16, Mike Smith 6-7 1-2 13, Bryce Schnatterly 0-1 1-2 1, T.J. Holl 0-3 0-1 0, Sam Barbe 1-1 0-1 2, Josh Bauer 4-6 0-0 8, Jack Cook 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-44 8-19 58.BUTLER 38Justice Lewandowski 1-8 0-0 2, Rich Marnic 0-2 1-2 1, Keenan Krause 1-5 0-0 2, Andrew Paterno 4-10 3-3 12, Nick Patten 1-6 1-1 3, Cory Wheeler 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Frederick 4-7 1-3 9, Eric Hindman 1-2 0-0 2, Mark Gross 3-5 0-1 6, Damien Pickett 0-0 1-2 1, Kelly Kuharic 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 15-44 7-12 38.Seneca Valley 21 10 8 19 — 58Butler6 12 7 13 — 383-point goals: Darby, Topf 3; PattenJV: Seneca Valley, 49-48 (SV: Cody Boozel 8, Josh Balog 8; B: Joel Stutz 15, Kaden Rock 10)Friday: Seneca Valley at Shaler, New Castle at Butler
