Butler directs traffic in season-opening win
BUTLER TWP — Even as season openers go, fans definitely needed a scorecard on this night.
Butler used 12 players in the first half alone in cruising to a 67-48 boys basketball victory over Northgate on Friday night in the Golden Tornado gym.
“I think I may have the that last year, too,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “It’s going to take a while for us to sort everything out this year, so we wanted to look at guys, but there were a lot of fouls called as well. That caused us to get to the bench early.
“It all worked out. A lot of our younger guys got minutes, everybody contributed, made mistakes, committed fouls ... but no one was intimidated out there. That’s what I liked to see.”
Northgate is coming off a 20-win season that took the Flames to the WPIAL Cass 2A championship game, where they lost to Aliquippa. Five of Northgate’s top seven players are back from that team.
The Flames trailed from the outset, however, as Butler’s Ayden Davis stole the ball and drove the floor to lay in the game’s first two points. Tayt Lucas drained a trey shortly afterward for a 5-0 Tornado lead. Butler never lost the lead.
The Tornado led by 12 at halftime, 18 after three quarters. The lead peaked at 67-44 on a pair of Ayden Andrews free throws with 1:37 remaining.
“We just never got going,” Northgate coach Cam Williams said. “Our best player (Josh Williams) got in foul trouble in the first three minutes and had to sit the rest of the first half. We missed 10 free throws, couldn’t hit outside shots ... It was one of those nights.
“Games like this one help us get ready for the playoffs. We learn a lot in games like this.”
Braylon Littlejohn led the Tornado with 22 points, adding five assists and four rebounds. Donovan Carney tallied 14 points, five steals, five assists and four rebounds.
Lucas, making his fiorst varsity start, scored 14 points and sank three treys. Butler sank 10 treys to Northgate’s one.
“This was a good first game for Tayt,” Clement said. “He got into the flow of the offense right away. Braylon has really matured into a confident player. He knows how to get people involved and knows he can take a game over if he has to.
“Donovan did a great job getting into the paint. He brought a total game tonight.”
Williams led Northgate with 12 points. Ty Daniels contributed 11 points and eight rebounds, but the Flames had 18 turnovers to Butler’s 12.
“We didn’t take advantage of their turnovers and they scored off ours,” Coach Williams said.
“We were able to get into transition often tonight. When we do that, we can be pretty good,” Clement said.
The JV game was ended with 3:42 to play and Butler leading by 18 as a Northgate player violently crashed into the wall behind a basket. He lost some feeling in a side of his body at first, but that returned quickly. He was transported to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
NORTHGATE 48
Ty Daniels 5-12 1-2 11, Landon Lockett 1-6 2-6 4, Austin Mitchell 3-4 1-2 7, Des Williams 3-4 0-2 6, Josh Williams 5-12 1-1 12, JT Nichols 2-5 0-0 4, Angelo Perminter 0-0 0-2 0, Anthoy Barren 0-1 0-0 0, Rob McKinley 0-3 0-0 0, Kadenne Kemp 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 21-61 5-15 48
BUTLER 67
Donovan Carney 5-13 2-2 14, Ayden Davis 2-4 0-0 5, Andrew Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Braylon Littlejohn 7-9 6-7 22, Tayt Lucas 5-9 1-1 14, Coleton Welter 0-2 0-0 0, Stainton Forbes 1-2 1-23, Andrew Gettinger 0-0 1-2 1, Jordan Epps 1-4 0-0 3, Mavrick Clement 10-3 0-0 3, Kyle Casteel 0-1 0-0 0, Ayden Andrews 0-1 2-2 2, Kaden Blatt 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Lenhart 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-60 13-17 67.
Northgate 11 9 13 15 — 48
Butler 21 11 19 16 — 67
3-pointers: Northgate 1 (J.Williams); Butler 10 (Carney 2, Davis, Littlejohn 2, T.Lucas 3, Epps, Clement)
JV: Butler 65, Northgate 47 (N: Anthony Barren 19; B: Jordan Epps 9, Andrew Gettinge 9, Ayden Andrews 9)
Thursday: Butler at Kiski Area
