Tornado wear down Tigers
BUTLER TWP — The student section’s theme was pajamas, but Butler did not sleep on North Allegheny.
The Golden Tornado (14-5, 5-3) picked up a critical 66-55 Section 1-6A boys basketball victory on their home floor Friday night by forcing the Tigers (8-10, 3-5) to extend a zone defense that Butler was having trouble penetrating early in the game.
A pair of Ryan Porch treys were Butler’s only points in the game’s first five and a half minutes as North Allegheny opened up a 10--6 lead. Donovan Carney cut the margin to one with a trey at the 2:15 mark of the first period.
“Ryan’s two 3’s early were big because that took some of the pressure off our shooters,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Had we gone all that time without anything, we’d have probably been feeling that pressure a lot more.
“We started hitting some shots, forced them (NA’s zone defense) out a little bit and we got going.”
Trailing 18-15 early in the second period,.Butler went on a 12-2 run to grab a seven-point lead. The Tornado never trailed again. Braylon Littlejohn hit a pair of treys, stole the ball and drove for a layup, then canned another layup during the surge.
