Butler’s Morton already attracting major offers

guard who had so much talent and size as Morton. This kid might be a 6-6, 210-pound point guard by the time he gets to college.

Through much of his preteen years, Morton played on teams coached by his father, who was a pretty fair player himself at Moniteau High School in the early 1990s. Ryan Morton had more than 1,000 points in his career. Ethan is closeto 1,000 already.

“I always thought he would be good, but let’s face it, a lot of stuff is predicated on your size,” said Ryan Morton. “That’s why we always worked on his guard skills, no matter how big he was. If he ended up being only 6-1, it wouldbe very tough for him to be a Division I player. We hoped he would grow and be blessed with size, but I never thought he’d be as big as he is now.”

Both Ethan Morton and his fathercredit Clement for being a big factor in Morton’s progress. Clement’s oldest son, Mattix, is a freshman at Butler and Mattix and Ethan Morton played on some teams together in elementary school. Clement is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who also was recruited by a few Division I colleges when he playedbasketball at Butler.

“He has been such a big help because he kind of has been through a lot of this stuff,”said Ethan Morton.

Clement said, “When he was in seventh grade, that’s when I started to realize he wasgoing to be a Division I college player. Whether low, mid or high major I didn’t know. But I told his dad we had to do a few things. First we worked on his shot and then him developing a pull-up jumper was big. Then he had to get faster andplay above the rim.”

Morton is a threat to destroy defenses in a number of ways. He has a college-type jump shot. His passing is tremendous. And his calm, maturedemeanor on the court defieshis age.

What Morton would like most is a title for Butler, WPIAL or PIAA. It’s one of the other things that drives him. He has people in his ear telling him to think about leaving Butler and going to a prep school. Just the thought of that bothers him, which says a lot about what is important to Morton. Butler is 17-3 after losing to Central Catholic Tuesday night in a game that decided the WPIAL Class 6A Section1 title.

Among the goals on Morton’s mirror is “Do It For The Community.”

“I love this community,” said Morton. “You look up, see everyone in the stands and all my friends from school. You look on the bench and see all the kids you grew up with. One of my favorite things is coming out after a game and seeing all my family. You can’t get that at a prep school. You can’t substitute anything for that.”

So there is this kid from Butler who is gifted in basketball,has major-college scholarship offers, is true to his school and will go out of his way to shake the hand of an adult and say hello. On top of all that, thereis this: He has a 4.3 gradepoint average. He likes math andlists a college degree on his mirrorof goals.

For goodness sake, is there anythingbad about this kid?

“His room is a mess,” said Morton’smother.

Ryan Morton laughed and said, “He does need to clean his room more often, and take thegarbage out more.”

Putthat on the mirror.