Butler gets back on track with 65-57 win over Pine-Richland
PINE TWP — After watching his team drop a contest for the first time since before Christmas last Friday, Butler’s Matt Clement urged his guys to put together four quarters Thursday night.
That, they did.
With a fast start — the Golden Tornado jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 1:33 — and a steady, balanced offensive push, Butler earned a 64-47 WPIAL Section 1-6A road victory over Pine-Richland.
“I give five keys to winning and one of them was, ‘Let’s play a full game,’” Clement said. “Because we really haven’t. I feel like we’ve gotten off to a slow start three or four games in a row and put us in a hole. We’ve withstood three of them, but we didn’t last time — and we saw what happened.”
Senior standout Braylon Littlejohn got into foul trouble early, but classmate Ayden Davis scored five of his nine points in the first quarter, helping keep the Rams (6-7, 2-3) at bay.
“He took command of that game (with) his aggressiveness,” Clement said. “He took it to the hoop, he came up with loose balls, he fought for rebounds. When your No. 1 scorer is on the bench, (Davis’) activity, you couldn’t even tell he wasn’t on the court because he made so much happen.”
The Golden Tornado (11-2, 4-1) never trailed in the contest. Davis’ first basket, which he was fouled on and converted for an and-one, broke a 7-7 tie.
“We took it personally,” Davis said of the preceding 66-42 loss to Central Catholic. “We used that to keep our energy and come out hard this game.”
Tayt Lucas knocked down four treys for Butler and scored 16 points. Donovan Carney had a game-high 17 and added seven rebounds and three assists.
“We didn’t get through our screens like we had worked on,” Pine-Richland coach Bob Petcash said. “No. 12 (Lucas) and No. 14 (Stainton Forbes) hit big threes for them. Their role players were really the ones that really scored and competed and got them that lead.
“They played as a whole team effort. ... I don’t think we played hard enough. I don’t think we defended and played aggressive enough.”
Forbes’ three-pointers came on consecutive possessions in the second quarter, the latter pushing his side’s advantage to 11 points.
Along with Colton Welter and Kyle Casteel, he also helped in the heart of the defense. The 47 points were the second-fewest the team has allowed this go-round.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys,” Clement said. “(Responding to) weird days, off from school, didn’t practice a couple days in there, snow days, tough loss ... just a lot of good things.”
Butler is scheduled to play Hempfield at home Friday night, the winter weather providing. Davis feels like the Golden Tornado gained its momentum back heading into the second half of their conference schedule.
“It’s a wake-up call for the rest of the teams, I feel like,” Davis said. “We’re going to come out hot.”
BUTLER 64
Donovan Carney 7 1-4 17, Tayt Lucas 6 0-0 16, Ayden Davis 4 1-1 9, Stainton Forbes 2 2-2 8, Braylon Littlejohn 2 2-2 6, Colton Welter 2 0-1 4, Kyle Casteel 1 0-0 2, Mavrik Clement 1 0-0 2. Totals: 25 6-10 64.
PINE-RICHLAND 47
Zach Kenny 5 0-0 10, Carson Baer 3 0-2 8, Vasily Balouris 3 1-2 7, Eli Wentz 3 0-2 7, Eli Catalano 2 0-0 6, Andrew Mendelovich 2 0-0 5, Grant Spacciapolli 1 0-0 3, Johnluca Aiello 0 1-2 1. Totals: 19 2-8 47.
Butler 19 16 17 12 — 64
Pine-Richland 13 13 11 10 — 47
3-point goals: Butler 8 (Lucas 4, Carney 2, Forbes 2); Pine-Richland 7 (Catalano 2, Baer 2, Mendelovich, Wentz, Spacciapolli)
