How blind faith earned Toby Geibel a role with Butler’s boys basketball team
BUTLER TWP — Most high school basketball players aren’t as lengthy as Andrew Gettinger. Or athletically gifted as Stainton Forbes.
There are many more who instead resemble another Butler boys senior — Toby Geibel.
“I see myself in a lot of these younger players coming up through the system,” Geibel said. “I see their potential and their shooting ability, as well as their size — because I know some of them can grow, especially these guys on the JV team.”
Average-sized and plugging away on “B” teams as a middle schooler, Geibel said he “always had his shot” with him, but didn’t grow into his own until his sophomore year. That was the same season he climbed onto the Golden Tornado’s JV team. He didn’t see the floor much, though.
He was subbed in late in varsity blowouts as a junior.
Listed at 6-foot-4 now, Geibel’s getting his chances, paying off 12 years of playing the sport, most of that time with a blind faith it would pan out. It’s been as special as he’d hoped for.
“When we run new plays and we do different things in practice, I don’t even put him in, because he knows what he’s doing,” longtime Butler coach Matt Clement said after his team’s 59-52 win over North Allegheny last Friday. “If you watch during the game, you’ll see him telling other people where they’re supposed to be or what they’re supposed to do.
“This is what high school basketball is all about. This is a guy that, at one point, he’d tell you, in seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th grade, he didn’t know if he was gonna get to play varsity basketball. He wanted to be a part of it. He grew up watching it. ... He’s found his niche.”
Geibel has gone 12 for 33 from beyond the arc this season, leading the Golden Tornado at a 36% clip.
“He makes some open 3s,” Clement said. “He’s using his length a little bit to get rebounds. But he knows what’s he’s doing on the plays, and we ended up having him take the ball (on inbounds) quite a bit late in the game. That’s what this is all about — different people, different circumstances, whatever the case may be.
“All of a sudden, he’s on the court, winning the game against NA in the fourth quarter. That’s what we’ve gotta do. If you’re going to guard our guys tight, that’s what the other four guys, the other six guys, whatever, have to do.”
Geibel advised never to count the underdog out.
“You just have to know that they always have that defensive mind in them, as well as the offensive mind,” Geibel said. “They’ll always hustle and go for boards. They never kind of really go away on the court.”
Butler takes on WPIAL Section 1-6A-leading New Castle at home Friday night.
