Butler tough vs. Rams
BUTLER TWP— Vinny Schmidt helped Butler get the lead. Nate Snodgrass helped preserve it.
The sophomore and freshman had plenty of help Friday night as the Butler boys basketball team held off Pine-Richland, 63-58, in the Golden Tornado gym.
Four players reached double figures for Butler (7-9, 3-6), which scored 60 points for the first time since a season-opening overtime victory against Slippery Rock.
"We changed our offense about four games ago to more of an attack-five,"Tornado coach Joe Lewandowski said. "We're getting down the floor quicker, getting more consistent penetration and making quick plays in the post."
A 9-0 run by the visiting Rams wiped out an early 6-0 Butler lead before Schmidt came off the bench and drained a game-tying 3-pointer.
Schmidt's layup to begin the second quarter gave Butler a 16-12 lead and the Tornado never trailed again. But Pine-Richland (3-13, 2-6) stayed close all night.
The Rams pulled even at 28 early in the third quarter before Butler built a nine-point lead — buoyed by Schmidt treys on consecutive possessions — with 7:35 left in the game.
"We saw this coming with Vinny,"Lewandowski said. "He's so talented. He just has to get used to the intensity of a varsity game.
"Tonight, he hit some huge shots and that helped him get into the flow of the game."
Schmidt paced the Tornado with 16 points. Jeff Tompkins added 11 points and eight rebounds, Bobby Swartwout had 11 points and Brian Jendesky had 10. Logan Renwick had four assists.
Trailing 59-51 with 57 seconds left, Pine-Richland wasn't done. R.J. White sank a free throw and Collin Ryan stuck back an offensive rebound to pull the Rams to within five with 32.8 seconds left.
Snodgrass, Butler's freshman point guard, sank two free throws with 30.7 seconds remaining, stole the ball at midcourt, then hit two more free throws with 20.2 ticks on the clock to ice the game.
"Nate the closer?"Lewandowski said, jokingly. "First, there's the poise to make free throws late in games. Then there's the headiness it takes to make that steal. He is such an intelligent player."
Butler won Friday despite turning the ball over a season-high 21 times."That's what we wanted,"Rams coach Brian Gaetano said. "Butler can be deliberate getting into its offense and we wanted to make it a little crazy out there."We know we're going to give up some things doing that, but our story tonight was bad defense. We're just not guarding anybody. That's my fault, not the kids' fault. I have to fix that."When Butler posted a 54-44 win at Pine-Richland in December, Cole Harvey came off the bench to score 17 points and hit five 3-pointers."Tonight, another kid (Schmidt) comes off their bench and does it to us,"Gaetano said. "Every team we play can't have its best shooting night of the year against us. There has to be something we're not doing defensively."Eric Holmes paced Pine-Richland with 18 points. Erik Kordenbrock had 10 points and five rebounds. Tom Johnson had six rebounds for the Rams, who held a 27-21 edge on the boards and scored five buckets on offensive stickbacks.Butler won its second consecutive section game to keep its slim WPIALplayoff hopes alive. Pine-Richland lost for the 10th time in 11 games."We know we dug ourselves a hole in the first half of the section season,"Lewandowski said. "But our kids didn't go away and our coaches didn't go away."<B>PINE-RICHLAND 58</B>Eric Holmes 5-11 6-7 18, Erik Kordenbrock 3-7 4-4 10, Andy Andrle 1-5 0-0 2, Ian Hennessy 2-5 0-0 5, R.J. White 2-2 2-5 6, Tom Johnson 4-10 0-0 8, Mike Felker 2-2 1-4 5, Ed Baranowski 0-1 0-0 0, Ben Brown 0-0 2-2 2, Collin Ryan 1-1 0-0 2. <B>Totals: </B>20-44 15-22 58<B>BUTLER 63</B>Cole Harvey 1-1 0-0 2, Eric King 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Jendesky 2-4 5-9 10, Logan Renwick 2-2 1-1 5, Jeff Tompkins 4-7 2-3 11, Nate Snodgrass 2-7 4-4 8, Vinny Schmidt 6-10 1-2 16, David Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Bob Swartwout 5-8 1-3 11.<B> Totals: </B>22-39 14-22 63<B>Pine-Richland 12 14 12 20—58Butler 14 14 16 19—633-point goals:</B> Holmes 2, Hennessy; Jendesky, V. Schmidt 3, Tompkins<B>JV:</B> Pine-Richland, 52-40 (P-R:Collin Ryan 10; B:Vinny Schmidt 12, Cody Herald 9)<B>Tuesday:</B> Butler at North Allegheny
