Butler shooters on fire
WEXFORD — There wasn't a fiery halftime speech.
The Butler boys basketball team didn't need one.
“I knew they weren't ready to go home yet,” said coach Matt Clement.
The Golden Tornado proved it with a scintillating shooting performance in the third quarter.
Butler was 8-for-10 from the field — including 5-for-5 from 3-point range — in the period to erase a seven-point halftime deficit on the way to a 51-50 win over Moon in the first round of the WPIAL Quad-A playoffs at North Allegheny Thursday night.
It was the first playoff win for the Golden Tornado since 2000. Butler reached the WPIAL final that season.
“I'm just so proud of these kids. They showed so much heart,” Clement said. “I told all those guys, ‘You can't change the past. But you can make history right now.'”
Butler (13-9) did it despite playing an uneven first half.
The Tornado fell behind 15-9 early in the second quarter, but stormed back to tie the score at 17.
But Moon (15-8) closed the period with seven straight points to take the lead and the momentum into the break.
Butler shot just 33 percent from the field in the first half.
“There hasn't been many games this year when we have struggled shooting,” Clement said. “We just kind of got tentative (in the first half).”
That certainly changed in the second half.
Zach Slater hit the first of his three 3-pointers to cut the lead to four points, then Bobby Swartwout and Cody Herald hit back-to-back 3s less than a minute later to tie the score at 28.
Slater hit two more 3-pointers in a 20-second span to give the Tornado the lead for good.
In all, Butler hit five shots from beyond the arc in the first four minutes of the second half.“Those 3s were the biggest 3s of my life,” said Slater, a senior who finished with 13 points. “All the momentum changed and we took control after that.”Still, the game came down to a frantic finish.With Butler up by two points with less than a minute to play, Nate Snodgrass and Slater went to the line and missed the front end of one-and-one situations.But Moon could not take advantage.The Tigers missed a 3-pointer that would have given them the lead with 14.3 seconds left and then turned the ball over with three seconds left, forcing them to foul Swartwout with 1.6 seconds on the clock.Swartwout made both free throws and not even an 80-foot desperation heave from Moon guard Brett Hoffman that swished through the rim at the buzzer could save the Tigers.“We've basically lost four games this season at the buzzer,” said Moon coach Jeff Ackermann. “You'd think eventually one of them would go your way.”Swartwout finished with 18 points to pace Butler.Moon senior forward Aaron Johnson, who has recorded more than 1,500 points and more that 1,000 rebounds in his career, finished with 20 points.Butler will now play Shaler (22-1) in the WPIAL quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined.“We aren't by any means done,” Clement said. “Let's make a mark that breaks that drought and keep this program moving uphill.”<B>BUTLER 51</B>Nate Snodgrass 2-8 0-1 4, Cody Herald 2-6 0-3 5, Zach Slater 4-9 2-3 13, Vinnie Schmidt 3-5 1-2 7, David Tompkins 1-3 0-0 2, Bobby Swartwout 6-9 4-4 18, Trevor Wideman 0-0 0-0 0, Bill Smith 1-1 0-0 2. <B>Totals:</B> 19-41 7-13 51.<B>MOON 50</B>Brett Hoffman 6-13 1-2 16, Drew D'Andrea 1-2 0-0 2, Julian Spinosi 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Henderson 2-8 1-1 5, Aaron Johnson 8-12 4-4 20, Nick Forzi 1-4 0-0 3, Anthony LaGuardia 1-2 0-0 2, Angelo Aletto 1-3 0-0 2. <B>Totals:</B> 20-45 6-7 50.<B>Butler 9 8 23 11—51Moon 10 14 12 14—503-point goals:</B> Butler 6 (Herald, Slater 3, Swartwout 2); Moon 4 (Hoffman 3, Forzi).
