Butler starts quickly, cruises by Knoch, 80-49
JEFFERSON TWP — Come Saturday, Butler was still feeling the pain of Friday night's home loss to Seneca Valley.
The Golden Tornado relieved some of that hurt at Knoch — and did so rather quickly.
The Golden Tornado jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the game was three minutes old, scored 56 points in the first half and cruised to an 80-49 non-section boys basketball win over the Knights.
“They took the floor with a sense of purpose today,” Knoch coach Alan Bauman said.
Saturday's game marked the first boys basketball meeting between the two schools since 2009. They had never played each other at Knoch.
“It was important for us to jump on them right away,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Any time you play a local school ... whether its Mars, Seneca, Knoch ... everyone wants to claim Butler (County).
We came out in a man (defense), one, because we're good at playing that way, but also to avoid coming out flat and giving them confidence.”
Knoch (1-3) did pull within 11-7 on a pair of Ryan Lang free throws with 4:06 left in the opening quarter, but Butler (3-1) ran away from there.
A 12-3 run — highlighted by Mattix Clement and Devin Carney treys — jumped the Tornado lead to 23-10 late in the first period. A 16-4 run to close the second quarter gave the Tornado a 56-26 bulge at halftime.
The mercy clock ran during the second half.
“It was huge for us to come out and play well today,” Butler point guard Raine Gratzmiller said. “We play Seneca Valley two more times and we had to get that taste out of our mouths.”
Carney scored 26 points for Butler — 22 of those in the first half — and pulled within nine of 1,000 for his career. Gratzmiller had 15 points, eight assists and four steals. Madden Clement drained four treys for 12 points.
Charlie Kreinbucher had nine rebounds.
Butler turned the ball over only once in the first half and six times on the day, despite substituting freely throughout the day.
“We got a lot of guys a lot of minutes,” Clement said. “Everybody did a good job when they were in there.”
Lang had 21 points, six rebounds and three assists for Knoch. Keagan Fraser added 10 points and five boards for the Knights, who had 16 turnovers.
Lang entered the game averaging 31 points in Knoch's first three games.
“Ryan Lang is a great player. I thought we did a good job on him, not letting him get off on a big run,” Gratzmiller said.
Clement agreed.
“I don't know how many points he (Lang) got, but he had to work for every one of them,” the Butler coach said.
Knoch has played two defending WPIAL champions (North Catholic and Butler), a WPIAL runner-up (Mars) and has a third WPIAL champ (Highlands) still on its schedule.
“I don't know how many teams can say they played two WPIAL champs and a runner-up in their first four games,” Bauman said. “We want to play the best. I told our kids not to lose sight of our long-term purpose here.
“Good teams show you what you need to work on, They exploit weaknesses. Our weaknesses played to Butler's strengths today. We'll set this one aside, but we'll remember what we learned from it.”
BUTLER 80Raine Gratzmiller 6-7 3-3 15, Devin Carney 10-15 3-3 26, Mattix Clement 2-9 0-0 5, Jordan Stutz 1-1 0-2 2, Derek Butterworth 0-0 2-2 2, Colin Patterson 1-2 0-0 3, CJ Singleton 0-0 0-0 0, Charlie Kreinbucher 2-4 0-0 4, Madden Clement 4-8 0-0 12, David Leslie 1-1 0-0 2, Kaleb Proudfoot 1-2 2-2 4, Logan Koegler 1-2 0-0 2, Mac Schnur 1-2 2-2 4, Brayden Koegler 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 30-56 11-14 80.
KNOCH 49Keagan Fraser 4-10 2-5 10, Blaze Voltz 1-2 2-2 4, Ryan Lang 5-13 11-13 21, Tyler Buterbaugh 1-4 2-2 5, Zsch McMillen 3-4 0-0 6, JJ Szebalskie 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Murphy 0-0 1-2 1, Cole Green 0-0 0-0 0, Lleyton King 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 15-35 18-24 49.Butler 23 33 10 14 — 80Knoch12 14 15 8 — 493-point goals: Carney 3, Mat.Clement, Mad.Clement 4, Patterson; ButerbaughJV: Butler, 66-25 (B: Mac Schnur 16, K: Lleyton King 7)Tuesday: Butler at Pine-Richland, Knoch at Freeport
