Twin Titles
BUTLER TWP — Basketball history continues to be made at Butler County Community College this season.
Butler High graduate Joel Stutz broke the Pioneers' 20-year-old career points record of 1,303 — set by fellow Butler grad Bryant Lewandowski in 1999 — when he scored 14 points in BC3's 90-69 Western Pa. Collegiate Conference semifinal win over Westmoreland Community College Saturday.
The Pioneers (12-13, 9-1) won the WPCC championship Sunday at the BC3 Field House, topping Penn Highlands 96-84 in the title game.
That win followed the BC3 women's team's WPCC championship triumph Saturday night at top-seeded Pitt Titusville. Carly Burdett scored 16 points and Mackenzie Craig garnered 15 points and 30 rebounds in the Pioneers' 62-43 triumph.
Craig extended her women's school records to 1,267 career points and 942 rebounds.
“We've never won both (men's and women's) championships in the same year,” BC3 men's and women's basketball coach Dick Hartung said. “Our teams combined to play four tough games this weekend and we won them all.”
Casey Kretzer scored 14 points and Amara Dorcy 13 for the Pioneer women in their title win. BC3's women are 9-11 overall this season.
Both BC3 teams will play in the Region XX tourney at Anne Arundel this coming weekend. The men will play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and the women at noon on Sunday.
“I believe we can win both games, even though they beat our teams earlier in the year,” Hartung said. “They beat our guys by 50. But we're a different team now.”
Point guard Jace Stutz, Joel's twin brother, agreed.
“When we played them back in December, we were still figuring ourselves out as a team,” Stutz said. “Now we're playing at a much higher level.
“We're going down there to win a fast-paced, running basketball game.”
That's precisely how they won Sunday.
The Pioneers defeated Penn Highlands (11-13, 7-7) twice in the regular season — by scores of 100-97 and 90-86 — and used a 28-4 run in the first half to turn a 25-21 deficit into a 49-29 lead. BC3 led 52-32 at the half.
But the Pioneers were primarily using five players while the Black Bears freely substituted throughout. The visitors used a 10-0 run to pull within 78-72 with 4:29 remaining.
“We knew they'd make a run at us,” Knoch graduate and BC3 sophomore Josh Knochel said. “They are too talented of a team not to do that.
“All five of us (starters) scored in double figures. If we didn't do that, I doubt we would have won.”
Penn Highlands would get no closer. Andrew Yonker completed a three-point play and Knochel sank a free throw to get the lead back to 10 with 3:35 left.A Jace Stutz trey and two Joel Stutz free throws hiked the advantage to 89-77 with 2:07 left, putting away the victory.“I can't tell you the last time our men won the conference. It's been a lot of years,” Hartung said. “We've had a few second places, but couldn't get over the hump until today.“They were more talented than us and physically stronger. But I thought we played harder and were in better condition.”Joel Stutz had 29 points, eight rebounds and three assists Sunday. He upped the BC3 career scoring record to 1,345 points.And he isn't worried about it.“It's fun to get the record, but I didn't come here for individual stuff,” Joel Stutz said. “I want to win championships. We beat a team that has guys from Florida, Ohio, all over the place, and all but one of our guys is from Butler County.“For a bunch of local guys to beat a team like that, to me, is pretty cool. The record, then a championship ... This has been the best weekend.”Knochel had 21 points, nine rebounds and three assists Sunday. He scored 22 points in Saturday's win.“Knochel was the MVP of this tournament, if you ask me,” Hartung said.The Stutz twins and Mohawk graduate Jordan Sager — that only player from outside Butler County — made the all-tournament team from BC3. Jace Stutz had 14 points and eight assists, Sager 14 points and six assists.Yonker, a Butler grad, had 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.“When we lost the WPIAL championship a couple of years ago (to Pine-Richland), I couldn't sleep that whole night,” Jace Stutz said. “I didn't want to go through that feeling again tonight.“Joel and I worked harder this off-season than we ever have. We never hit the weight room harder or practiced longer. It was awesome, the way all of that paid off today.”Peyton Brown led Penn Highlands with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan Fortson had 16 points and seven boards, Bryan Acosta 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists.“These were tough wins,” Hartung said of the twin WPCC championships. “Our kids stuck together, played together and got it.“I'm so proud of all of these kids.'
