Seneca Valley boys basketball wins gritty WPIAL section contest with rival Butler
-
Butler’s Andrew Gettinger (35) drives the ball around Seneca Valley’s Jaxon Householder (2) in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley’s Jaxon Householder (2) shoots over Butler’s Stainton Forbes (4) in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley’s Tyler Pepin (11) drives the ball past Butler’s Ayden Andrews (1) in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley’s Tyler Pepin (11) drives the ball past Butler’s Ayden Andrews (1) in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
-
Seneca Valley defeated Butler 58-52 in a boys basketball game on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at Seneca Valley High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley had been replying all night, but down two with under a minute to play, Butler needed just one more stop to have a chance at taking its first lead of Tuesday’s contest.
The Raiders responded for a final time as Owen Congdon’s bucket with 50 seconds remaining ensured their sixth boys basketball win in a row, a 58-52 WPIAL Section 1-6A result at Seneca Valley High School.
“We say to our guys, ‘Keep swinging,’” Seneca Valley coach Kevin Trost said. “Butler threw some punches, but we were able to punch back and it was good to see.”
The Golden Tornado’s output was their lowest of the season. They trailed wire-to-wire.
“I think this is the first game all year where I feel like our offense let us down a little bit,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Scoring hasn’t been the problem, it’s been stopping people. If you look at the big picture with the scoring ... if you hold Seneca Valley, at their place, to 58, you have a chance to win that game. I think our offense didn’t give us the chance we needed to win that game.”
The Golden Tornado (8-4, 1-4) shot 20 of 44 (45.4%) from the field on the night, but when they needed a shot the most, they couldn’t sink one.
Butler pulled within three after Stainton Forbes blocked a Raiders (7-6, 4-1) shot and made a bucket on the other end with 4:14 to play.
The score held put for another 2:09 before Forbes appeared to make another crucial block. Instead, the effort drew a foul, and the hosts’ Jaxon Householder sank a pair from the foul line, making it 52-47. Butler’s Andrew Gettinger made it to the charity stripe on the following possession, shaving the deficit to four.
Gettinger then lunged and came a fingertip away from making a steal on the other end, opening up an easy drive and lay-in for Andrew Omasits. Tayt Lucas promptly replied, and Forbes soon pulled the Golden Tornado as close as they’d been since the opening frame.
Those wound up being Butler’s last points.
“You battle with him (Trost) and battle strategy with him and plays and different things like that,” Clement said. “You expect him to respond, probably like he expects us to respond when they make a bucket.”
“I really like the way our guys persevered,” Trost said. “We kind of grinded, and it was a gritty game. I thought we showed a lot of resiliency.”
Seneca Valley pushed out to an 11-2 lead 3:30 into the contest. That advantage grew to as many as 14 points after Tyler Pepin’s straight-away 3-pointer with 5:13 to go before halftime.
A little under three minutes of game time earlier, Pepin’s dish to Nico Santapau led to a corner trey and a foul that yielded a four-point play with two ticks left in the first frame.
“We put ourselves in a hole in the first quarter,” Clement said. “A lot of those first-quarter points were loose balls. ... Not being aggressive getting loose balls and rebounds early put us behind against a really good team that’s coached well.”
Andrew Gettinger helped set up three Butler treys after Pepin’s make, then Gettinger nailed a 3-pointer from beyond half court as the halftime buzzer blared.
Gettinger also swished a trey before a minute had passed in the third quarter, leading to a timeout by Trost.
“We had a lot of effort,” Clement said. “Honestly, we need to start the game the way we played getting back into the game. We didn’t execute on offense as well as we have tonight.”
Butler 9 15 13 15 — 52
Seneca Valley 18 12 16 12 — 58
BUTLER 52
Ayden Andrews 5 1-2 14, Stainton Forbes 5 0-0 13, Tayt Lucas 6 0-0 13, Andrew Gettinger 4 1-2 12, Tanner Pry 0 0-2 0, Mavrik Clement 0 0-2 0. Totals: 20 2-8 52.
SENECA VALLEY 58
Andrew Omasits 7 1-2 17, Nico Santapau 5 2-3 17, Jaxon Householder 3 2-2 9, Tyler Pepin 3 0-0 7, Owen Congdon 3 0-0 6, Ryan Priester 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 5-7 58.
3-point goals: Butler 10 (Andrews 3, Forbes 3, Gettinger 3, Lucas); Seneca Valley 9 (Santapau 5, Omasits 2, Householder, Pepin)
Friday: Pine-Richland at Butler; Woodland Hills at Seneca Valley
