Rough farewell
MT. LEBANON — The charts were trending in opposite directions for Butler and Mt. Lebanon entering Friday night’s WPIAL Class 6A boys hoops quarterfinal.
Making use of an unfamiliar defense late and having used a two-week layover to their advantage, the Golden Tornado almost turned the tide. However, the home Blue Devils survived a strong push and sent Butler packing, 55-50.
“It’s really tough to leave a place — when you feel like you executed the game plan well — with a loss,” Golden Tornado coach Matt Clement said.
The effort included morphing into a 1-3-1 defense near the end of the third quarter, a move that gave Butler some momentum heading into the fourth.
The lead changed 11 times in the contest, but second-chance points came back to haunt Butler (14-8), which held its last advantage after freshman Donovan Carney's make with 4:17 to go. That shot erased what became a five-point deficit early into the final frame. Carney finished with 18 points and Braylon Littlejohn 19 for the Golden Tornado.
Carney came up big again when he sank a trey to shave the Blue Devils' edge to one point with 2:02 to play. The hosts played keep-away for over a minute after that before Tanner Donati snuck under the basket, took a pass, and laid it in with 57 seconds remaining.
“We were going to play them a certain way and matchups were particular,” Clement said. “A couple times we missed it and let them get an open one or didn’t guard the right guy … I think if we do that in the first half, they have 14 points.”
"We're known for the Mt. Lebanon slow-down," said Blue Devils junior Riley Farabaugh, who went 6-for-6 from the line in the last 3:43. "Get that stop, come down there, get a good shot. Once we got the ball, (there was) no need to take a bad shot."
The Golden Tornado led by seven points after the initial eight minutes, but their offense went one for its first seven from the field in the second. At the halftime break, Mt. Lebanon held on to a one-point advantage.
"They made the foul shots at the end," Clement explained. "Usually, the script of a Mt. Lebanon game like that is, they run the clock out on you and it goes to 10-12 (points) … When they started to run the clock at the end of the third, we turned them over.
“We followed our game plan. I thought we executed well.”
Butler began its season schedule with a 9-1 mark but went 5-6 after that. Following two losses and a game cancellation to round out the regular season, the Golden Tornado sat idle for two weeks.
“You can kind of break our season into two from when Madden went down,” Clement said. “It’s a shame. I hate to see it end because we got so much better these last two weeks. We kind of found our niche without him.
“It’s hard to reinvent yourself or play differently or do things differently when you’re at the playoffs. They trusted in me and the game plan and going with it.”
Since Dec. 30, the Blue Devils (16-7) have now come out on the right side of 12 of their last 15. They'll play Section 1-6A champion New Castle in the semifinals.
Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David was unavailable for comment.
BUTLER 50
Braylon Littlejohn 8 3-3 19, Donovan Carney 7 1-2 18, Colin Casteel 2 0-0 5, Ayden Davis 2 0-0 4, Ryan Porch 2 0-0 4. Totals: 21 4-6 50.
MT. LEBANON 55
Riley Farabuagh 4 7-8 17, Brody Barber 4 2-2 12, Tanner Donati 4 0-0 9, Liam Sheely 3 0-0 8, Nate Girod 3 0-0 7, Michael Pfeuffer 1 0-0 2. Totals:19 9-10 55.
Butler 19 8 8 15 — 50
Mt. Lebanon 12 16 9 18 — 55
3-point goals: Mt. Lebanon 6 (Farabaugh 2, Sheely 2, Donati, Gerod); Butler 4 (Carney 3, Casteel)
