No encore here
BUTLER TWP — Technically, the game didn’t mean anything.
Only somebody forgot to tell Gateway.
The Gators took to Butler’s floor Monday night in a mutual regular season finale, out-rebounded the Golden Tornado 46-18, went on a 25-0 run through the second quarter and into the third, and left town with a dominant 70-47 boys basketball victory.
The WPIAL playoff schedule was released Monday afternoon, meaning this game had no bearing on any playoff seedings or matchups.
Gateway coach Alvis Rogers didn’t care.
“We treated this like a regular season game because that’s what it is,” Rogers said. “We wanted to use this game to get ready for the playoffs and I like the way we played tonight.
“We’ve been this dominant on the boards before. What I liked about tonight is we forced Butler into a lot of contested shots. They’re a good basketball team and we came out and challenged them tonight.”
The Tornado (16-6) dropped three of their final four regular season games. They are seeded No. 6 in the WPIAL 6A playoffs and will travel to No. 3 seed Upper St. Cl;ir on Feb. 23 to begin postseason play. Game time has yet to be announced.
“Ir’s a credit to their coach that in this meaningless game, he had his kids ready to play and take the approach they were getting ready for the playoffs,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “It’s a discredit to me as a coach that I didn’t have my kids ready that same way.”
Clement referred to the 46-18 rebounding differential as “despicable, disgusting ... You’re not going to beat anybody with rebounding numbers like that.”
A layup by Donovan Carney cut Gateway’s early lead to 19-16 with 6:37 left in the first half. The Gators (16-6) proceeded to score the game’s next 25 points, taking a 40-16 lead into halftime. A layup by Alec Dunsmore upped the margin to 44-16 early in the third quarter.
A Coleton Welter layup finally stopped the bleeding for Butler, but the damage was done.
Alex Lowry had 17 points and six rebounds for the Gators. Dunsmore had 15 points and 16 boards, Jacob Settles 12 points and five rebounds off the bench. Bryson Pavlik contributed 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“This was one of the best games we’ve played all year,” Rogers said. “To do it against a quality 6A team like Butler makes it feel a little more special.”
Braylon Littlejohn paced Butler with 13 points and seven rebounds, Tayt Lucas added 11 points, Donovan Carney 10 points and four assists.
“Maybe what happened tonight will be good for us in the long run because it shows us we need to work on some things,” Clement said. “Upper St. Clair has a 6-foot-8 center, a 6-4 forward ... We have to box out and give a lot of effort on the boards to play with those guys.
“We have to decide. Do we want to make a run at this thing or do we not? I know I do. I’m confident our kids do as well. When we get back for practice, I’m fully confident they’ll be focused and ready to go.”
GATEWAY 70
Alex Lowry 7-11 2-2 17, Vito Campolo 2-6 0-0 6, Alec Dunsmore 7-8 1-1 15, Mlkel McCrommon 1-9 0-0 3, Bryson Pavlik 4-7 0-0 10, Jacob Settles 4-6 2-2 12, Dwight Richetts 2-5 0-0 5, Asaan Wallace-Ross 0-0 0-0 0, Paul Nnacho 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 28-53 5-5 70
BUTLER 47
Mavrik Clement 0-2 0-0 0, Donovan Carney 4-17 0-0 10, Ayden Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Braylon Littlejohn 4-9 4-8 13, Kyle Casteel 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Epps 1-2 0-0 3, Tayt Lucas 4-10 0-0 11, Ayden Andrews 1-3 0-0 3, Coleton Welter 1-3 0-0 2, Andrew Gettinger 0-2 2-2 2, Ian Lenhart 0-0 0-0 0, Grayden Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Pry 0-0 0-0 0, Kaden Blatt 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 16-50 6-8 47.
Gateway 19 23 11 17 — 70
Butler 14 2 16 15 — 47
3-point goals: Gateway 9 (Lowry, Campolo 2, McCrommon, Pavlik 2, Settles 2, Richetts), Butler 9 (Carney 2, Littlejohn, Epps, Lucas 3, Andrews, Blatt)
JV: Gateway, 61-52 (G: Asaan Wallace-Ross 30, Jax Volrs 10, Paul Nnacho 10; B: Jordan Epps 12, Andrew Gettinger 10)
Feb. 23: WPIAL 6A Playoffs-Butler at Upper St. Clair
