Butler wins 1st game without senior Clement
HEMPFIELD TWP — Hempfield’s gym was more of a laboratory for Butler Friday night.
In a 64-51 boys basketball victory, the Golden Tornado (12-3) wanted to crank up the intensity and push the pace while toying with new defenses. The experimentation was the beginning of figuring out what works with senior guard Madden Clement missing due to an injury suffered in Wednesday’s practice.
“He had a big impact on everything we did,” fellow senior guard Ryan Porch said of Clement. “We kind of realized that certain people have to fill different roles now. In practice, we’re going to start working on that and see where we can go.”
Butler only led for a total of 52 seconds in the opening frame but used seven second-quarter takeaways to permanently take the lead with 4:17 to go in the first half.
“We handled the pressure pretty good,” Spartans coach Bill Swan said. “And I’m going to be honest, I think (Donovan) Carney and (Braylon) Littlejohn missed some shots … They changed their press and took away some things.”
The changes to how things look are going to take some time to get used to.
