WPIAL basketball
Senior guard’s circus shot sends 78-76 thriller into second overtime
Boys Class 6A No. 1 seed Butler taken to two overtimes before winning.
Peters Township gave Ethan Morton a chance. Morton grabbed it, dribbled it, threw it over his shoulder and off the window.
It was glass and good — and Morton’s legend grew a little more.
Morton, Butler’s splendid senior point guard and one of the WPIAL’s most heralded players in the past couple of decades, made an unforgettable shot at the buzzer in the first overtime of Saturday’s WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal against Peters Township. It tied the contest and Butler, the No. 1 seed, went on to defeat Peters Township, 7876, in double overtime.
The contest at Mt. Lebanon was about as good as it gets in high school basketball playoffs. Big crowd. Shifts in momentum. Emotion. This one had all of it. And it had a most sensational shot from the 6-foot6 Morton, a Purdue recruit who finished with 32 points and 18 rebounds.
“How did we win that game?” Morton yelled to his teammates inside a raucous Butler locker room after the game.
Think of it: Butler (18-4) trailed by five points with two minutes left in regulation and Peters Township’s Sam Petrarca had a short shot roll around the rim and out with two seconds remaining that would have won it. Then Butler looked doomed in the first overtime when it fell behind by five points with 25.4 seconds remaining.
“I still can’t really contemplate what just happened,” Morton said, smiling in disbelief.
What happened was Morton got a chance at the end, and that’s all he needed. After Petrarca made two free throws to put No. 9 seed Peters Township (15-9) ahead, 6560, Butler raced up court and Devin Carney nailed a 3-pointer to make it 65-63 with 21 seconds left.
After Colin Cote’s two free throws, Morton was fouled on a 3-pointer with 8.1 seconds left and made all three shots. Cote was fouled again with 6.6 seconds left. He made the first to make it 68-66, but his second caromed off the rim and right to Morton. Heroics were seconds away.
It went like this: Morton hurries with two dribbles to his right. Then two with the left hand. Back to the right. Switch to the left, go around a defender and hop into the lane where two Peters Township defenders await. Go into the air, flick the ball over the right shoulder just as your feet land, fall to the ground and watch.
The ball banked off the glass and into the basket. On the ground, Morton raised his fist in the air and the Butler faithful were delirious.
“I was coming up half court and I was, like, ‘Do I shoot a 3 for the win?’” Morton said. “Then I decided I have to try and get to the cup. I honestly just threw it up from there. There were a few times in the game where I overshot it. I don’t even know how it went in. I just tossed it up, looked up and it went in. … I told all the guys in the locker room that everybody better go to church tomorrow.”
Morton had only 11 points through the first three quarters, but scored 21 in the fourth quarter and two overtimes.
“He just doesn’t want to go home,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “He’s not ready to go to Purdue yet. You could tell in his eyes.”
In the second OT, Mason Montag made two free throws with 39.2 seconds left to give Butler a 75-72 lead. Cote made two free throws to make it 75-74, but Morton found Charles Kreinbucher for a layup to make it 77-74. After a turnover, Butler’s Raine Gratzmiller hit a free throw with 9.8 seconds left to clinch it.
Carney finished with 22 points for Butler. Morton said he didn’t play very well, despite the 32 points. He was 11 of 25 from the field and 9 of 14 from the line.
Cote had 24 and Petrarca 21 and 13 rebounds for Peters Township.
“All year long, you watch tape and [Morton] steps up in the fourth quarter and makes plays,” Peters Township coach Gary Goga said. “Everybody’s been trying to stop him. He made a great play. An unbelievable play.”