BUTLER TWP — One player can't exactly will a team to victory.

But Ethan Morton surely tried.

The Butler sophomore scored 17 of the Golden Tornado's 19 fourth-quarter points and had a game-high 39 for the night. But the Golden Tornado dropped an 80-64 section boys basketball decision to nemesis Pine-Richland before a packed Butler gym Friday night.

“I was fortunate enough to coach Brian Walsh at Moon and he's an assistant coach at Indiana right now,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackerman said. “He's the best high school player I've seen, but Ethan Morton is every bit as good.

“We guarded him with bigger bodies, size he probably hasn't faced, and we kept giving him different looks. We guarded him as well as you can guard a kid.

“He's just an amazing player,” Ackerman added.

But the Rams were the stronger team on this night.

Pine-Richland sank 10 of its first 13 shots from the floor in taking a 24-11 lead in the first eight minutes. The Rams (5-1, 2-0) had a 32-14 lead with 3:48 left in the half, only to see Butler (6-1, 2-1) trim, the gap to 36-31 with 28 seconds left in the half.

“Their shooting was lights out early and we had to dig out of a big hole,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “You expend so much energy doing that, it's hard to come all the way back.

“We lost by 16, but we pulled within four or five a couple of times.”

Pine-Richland closed the first quarter with an 11-2 run, the third period with a 9-0 run and the game with a 13-2 run.

“It's hard to win when you rattle off numbers like that,” Clement admitted. “Luke (Michalek) and Ethan played the entire game. They were pretty gassed at the end.”

The Rams built a 62-45 lead seconds into the fourth period before Morton put the Tornado on his back. He scored Butler's next 15 points before a Michalek offensive rebound and stick-back pulled Butler within 67-62 with 3:13 to play.

Phil Jurkovec, playing his second game since the end of football season, canned an 8-footer, Sebastian Kosanovich stuck back an offensive board and Greg Shulkosky scored a lay-uop off a fast-break. Those plays helped the Rams to a 73-62 lead with 2:31 left and Butler did not threaten again.

“We knew they would make runs at us and they did,” Ackerman said. “They're a good basketball team. But we figured we had the size advantage on them and could control the boards.”

The Ramas did just that, grabbing 37 rebounds to Butler's 18.

“It;'s hard to get in transition when they're not missing shots and we're not getting rebounds,” Clement said.

Dan Petcash paced Pine-Richland with 25 points and eight rebounds. Jurkovec had 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

“Jurkovec means so much to them,” Clement said. “I thought he was the MVP of our section last year because he makes the rest of their guys better.

“And when he's dropping in 15-footers on top of it ... That makes it tough. I give the kid credit. He could be headed to Notre Dame to begin football and he's staying back to play basketball with his boys.”

Point guard Shulkosky had 14 points and seven assists, Kosanovich 14 points and 10 boards for the Rams. Shulkosky was hurt and did not play in Pine-Richland's loss to Mt. Lebanon.

Morton had seven rebounds, five steals and four assists to go with his 39 points. Michalek had 12 points.

“I hate to lose, Ethan hates to lose, this whole team hates to lose,” Clement said. “But in the overall picture, it's one game out of 22. We're going to get better. So will Pine-Richland.

“They were the poised team, the more experienced team tonight.”

Ackerman said he's still trying to figure out what he's got.

“Some of our guys have only been here for four or five practices and we've had injuries,” he said. “We're nowhere close to where we're going to be. It's a long season.”

PINE-RICHLAND 80

Greg Shulkosky 4-11 6-6 14, Colin Luellen 1-6 0-0 3, Dan Petcash 8-12 8-12 25, Kenny White 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Polce 2-5 0-0 5, Sebastian Kosanovich 6-6 2-3 14, Phil Jurkovec 8-10 2-3 19. Totals: 29-50 18-21 80.

BUTLER 64

Luke Michalek 5-11 2-3 12, John Michalek 2-2 0-0 6, Mattix Clement 1-2 0-0 3, Tarik Taoufik 2-4 0-0 4, Luke Patten 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Morton 13-29 12-15 39, Dom Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Isaiah Scribner 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Stazer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-52 14-18 64.

Pine-Richland 24 14 22 20 — 80

Butler11 20 14 19 — 64

3-point goals: Luellen, Petcash, Polcem, Jurkovec; J.Michalek 2, Clementm, Morton

JV: Butler, 42-36 :P-R: Joey Petcash, Logan Murray and Patrick Shanahan 9; B: Mason Montag 16)

Friday: Butler vs. Beaver, C.J. Betters Tournament