Butler falls at Pine-Richland, 69-59
PINE TWP — An avalanche fell over Butler in the second quarter of its WPIAL Section 1-6A boys basketball game with host Pine-Richland Tuesday night.
The Golden Tornado did their best to climb out of the mess, but ultimately fell short to the Rams, 69-59.
After a pair of free throws by Butler's Devin Carney gave his team a 16-14 edge in the first frame, P-R senior Nathan Zavasky swiftly buried a couple of tries from behind the arc.
The makes were just the start of a 17-4 surge that continued into the second quarter and carried the Rams (1-1, 2-3) to a 22-point advantage at the break.
“We just didn't do a good job in the first half,” Golden Tornado (1-2, 3-2) coach Matt Clement said. “It kind of just snowballed on us. They executed their gameplan perfectly, we executed our gameplan bad and I'll take some of the blame, too.”
P-R distributed the ball well in the opening 16 minutes, with a half-dozen guys scoring in each of the first two quarters. Zavasky and fellow seniors Jameson O'Toole and Andrew Swartout combined to drain seven treys in the half.
“I think we just played within ourselves,” Rams coach Bob Petcash said. “We knocked some shots down and we got a little lead, but you can never rest on Butler. ... I told our guys at halftime, 'It's 0-0.'”Clement told his group not to look at the score coming out of the intermission. The Golden Tornado wasted no time in fighting back.Carney, who ended up totaling 20 points and was the team's leading scorer on the night, sunk a three-pointer out of the gate. Then Madden Clement did, as well. Following a pair of layups by reserve guard Braylon Littlejohn, Butler was on a 10-0 run a little over three minutes into the third.“Butler came out and smacked us right in the mouth,” Petcash said.The Golden Tornado scored 24 points in all in the frame and momentarily rode the momentum into the final quarter. Raine Gratzmiller knocked the final of his four treys down after an offensive board by Littlejohn and some impressive ball movement by his teammates, shaving P-R's lead to six.“We got it down to six,” Clement said. “But sometimes getting it down to six against a good team, there's another gigantic step after that.“We used a lot of energy to get there. We didn't finish the job the way we needed to.”Even with the Rams missing all eight of their three-point attempts in the second half, three consecutive baskets by Andrew Alexander, Joseph Dudkowski and Luke Shanahan took the wind out of Butler's sails.The win boosts P-R, which entered after losing three straight overtime contests by a combined eight points, over Butler in the section standings.“The guys have a little chip on their shoulder, I think, which is good,” Petcash said. “Hopefully those losses and that competition help us to be better as we move forward in the season.”Meanwhile, the Golden Tornado will look to regroup after falling in two of their first three section clashes.“We've just got to get better,” Clement said. “We said all along (that) we'd be better when we get to mid-January and that there'd be some bumps in the road. That's not an excuse. That's just the way it is right now. We've got a lot of work to do.”BUTLER 59Devin Carney 6 6-7 20, Raine Gratzmiller 6 0-0 16, Braylon Littlejohn 4 0-0 8, Charlie Kreinbucher 4 0-0 8, Madden Clement 2 2-4 7. Totals: 22 8-11 59.PINE-RICHLAND 69Luke Shanahan 6 3-4 16, Jameson O'Toole 6 1-1 15, Joseph Dudkowski 4 4-4 12, Andrew Swartout 4 0-0 9, Nathan Zavasky 3 0-0 9, Andrew Alexander 2 2-4 6, Owen Luellen 1 0-0 2. Totals: 26 10-13 69.Butler 16 8 24 11 — 59Pine-Richland 22 24 11 12 — 693-point goals: Butler 7 (Gratzmiller 4, Carney 2, Clement); Pine-Richland 7 (Zavasky 3, O'Toole 2, Swartout, Shanahan)Thursday: Hempfield at Butler
