BUTLER TWP — All due respect to players like Andrew Recchia of Mars, Isaac DeGregorio of North Catholic, Levi Orton of A-C Valley and other top basketball players in the Butler County area.

Butler junior guard Ethan Morton is simply at a level all his own.

Morton averaged 27.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game this season, leading the Golden Tornado to the WPIAL 6A championship game.

And after sharing the honor with current Notre Dame freshman Rob Carmody of Mars last year, Morton has repeated as Butler County Boys Basketball Player of the Year. The selection was made by the Butler Eagle sports staff.

“I'm grateful for it,” Morton said. “There are a lot of great players in the county. This means a lot to me.”

And he means a lot to Butler.

“He was 41 assists short of averaging a triple-double and we played a brutal schedule this year,” Butler coach Matt Clement said of Morton. “We're talking about Class 6A basketball and he's putting up numbers like that.”

Morton scored 743 points this season. He will enter his senior year with 1,673 career points, shattering the previous school record of 1,446 set by Shawn Bellis 25 years ago.

Morton also broke Bellis' previous singe-game Butler scoring record of 47 twice this season, netting 48 in a Saturday afternoon win over Canfield (Ohio) and 51 in a tight section loss at Pine-Richland.

“I appreciate these records a lot more now than I did before,” Morton said. “Shawn Bellis was in the gym when I got the (career) scoring record. He didn't have to be there. It was a very classy move by him to come.

“You're talking about a guy who keyed four section championships, a WPIAL title ... I'm still trying to get those. I have so much respect for him ... Nate Snodgrass, Mark Maier, Bobby Swartwout, Ty (Sales), all of those guys who made so much history in Butler basketball. They made me so hungry to play.”

Clement is most impressed by Morton's 57 percent accuracy shooting from the field this season.

“That's with two or three guys draped all over him much of the time,” the coach said.

Morton also averaged 81 percent at the free throw line, hitting 254 of 311 shots.

He has received more than 20 offers from Division I programs and has a busy summer ahead. Morton is allowed to make five official visits after June 7.

“Ethan has gotten to know so many of these college coaches through the the recruiting process,” Clement said. “They don't just want him for what he can do on the court.

“His intelligence, his character, personality,. integrity — Ethan can change an entire team. That's why so many coaches want him.”

Butler sank 245 treys this season. Mattix Clement struck for a school-record 87 of them. Devin Caerney, a freshman, added 63.

Morton gets them the ball, often times. Only he doesn't look at it that way.

“We have so many guys who can hit the three and they make it easier on me,” Morton said. “They force defenses to spread the floor. Mattix and Devin stand in those corners and defenders have to go with them.

“That gives me so much room to create.”

Morton is playing spring and summer basketball with the New York Wrens in Brooklyn. He travels there on weekends for practice.

He said he will visit Michigan, Ohio State and Marquette this summer, leaving two visits “open for later decisions.” He made official visits to Stanford, Purdue and Indiana last fall.

“I plan on making my decision by the time school starts in the fall,” Morton said. “I want to have that out of the way so I can concentrate on my senior year.”

And take one more crack at a WPIAL championship.

“I appreciate what it takes to get to that (WPIAL) title game,” he said. “The path we had to go through this year was such an accomplishment. It sucks that we lost (62-57 to Mt. Lebanon), but I've been blessed to play in that game, at that venue (Petersen Events Center) twice now.

“I was so lucky as a freshman to have a bunch of seniors get me there to experience that. I'm hoping we can get back there next year, break through and win it.”

As for his own game, Morton is in no way satisfied.

“I need to be better defensively and I can always shoot better,” he said. “I shot the ball OK this year, but I can do better.

“I know the expectations that will be on me. They will either break me or take me up to another level.”

Clement is betting on the latter.

“It's hard to imagine him being better than he is right now,” the coach said. “But he will be.”