Tornado’s 8-game win streak swept away
BUTLER TWP — Butler’s eight-game win streak wasn’t just snapped Friday night.
It was obliterated.
Central Catholic jumped out to an 11-0 lead before the game was three minutes old, led 24-4 with 2:48 left in the opening period and cruised to a 66-42 Section 1-6A boys basketball victory at Butler on Friday night.
The Golden Tornado (10-2, 3-1) never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way. The 24-point final margin marked the largest lead for the Vikings (7-4, 3-1).
“We wanted to be physical, not settle for outside shots, get the ball in there and be dominant,” Central coach Bran Urso said. “Defensively, we wanted to be aggressive and take away the 3-point shot, because Butler excels at shooting the 3.
“We were able to do all of those things, plus dominate the glass.
The Vikings had a five-game winning streak snapped Tuesday by a section loss to New Castle.
“They came in here with a purpose, ready to play,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We weren’t ready to match their physicality and that’s my fault. I didn’t have my team prepared to handle that.
“They got us on our heels and they smelled blood in the water. I give them credit. They took it to us.”
The Vikings had a 35-20 advantage on the boards. They sank 12 of their 14 field goal attempts in the first quarter, most of those buckets being driving layups.
The Tornado managed only three 3-pointers all night and sank nine of 19 free throws.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Clement said.
Bradley Gompers, a 6-foot-5 junior, led Central with 27 points, 14 rebounds and a pair of assists.
“He’s one of the unknown guys in our section, for the most part,” Urso said. “I just told him to go there and play, to do his thing. I didn’t want to handcuff the guy in any way.
“Bradley is one of the leaders of our team and he played a tremendous game.”
Enzo Khalil contributed 13 points for the Vikings. Payton Wehner had eight points, five assists and five rebounds, Vernon Settles three steals and three assists.
Braylon Littejohn led Butler with 22 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals. Donovan Carney scored 11 points.
“We were turning the ball over on inbound passes against regular pressure,” Clement said. “They (Vikings) weren’t doing anything special defensively on those plays.
“We can’t be doing that. We can’t fall behind by 20 so quickly, either. The game’s over at that point. If we’re a championship team, we can’t have it.”
So do the Tornado flush this game tape or learn from it?
“Both,” Cement said. “It’s one section loss. We take the section games one at a time, win or lose. We’ll learn from this and get ready for the next one.”
CENTRAL CATHOLIC 66
Vernon Settles 2-7 1-2 5, Calvin Vento 1-5 0-0 2, Xxavier Thomas 1-3 0-0 2, Payton Wehner 3-5 2-2 8, Seamus Mahon 0-0 0-0 0, Peter Gonzalez 4-6 1-2 9, Bradley Gompers 12-17 1-2 227, Enzo Khalil 6-6 0-0 13. Totals: 29-49 5-8 66.
BUTLER 42
Mavrik Clement 0-0 0-4 0, Donovan Carney 4-21 2-2 11, Ayden Davis 1-2 1-2 3, Braylon Littlejohn 8-15 5-9 22, Kyle Casteel 0-1 0-0 0, Tayt Lucas 0-3 0-0 0, Stainton Forbes 1-1 0-0 3, Coleton Welter 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew Gettinger 1-2 1-2 3. Totals: 15-47 9-19 42.
Cent. Catholic 26 15 11 14 — 66
Butler 7 16 9 10 — 42
3-point goals: Central Catholic 3 (Gompers 2, Khalil), Butler 3 (Carney, Littlejohn, Forbes)
JV: Central Catholic, 59-40 (CC: Seamus Kahon 20, Noah Koupiaris 10; B: Jordan Epps 13, Andrew Gettinger 8)
Tuesday: Butler at Pine-Richland
