A HOOP FAN’S DELIGHT
Golden Tornado tops Penn Hills in one of top games at 4-day event
The MLK Weekend Showcase features 32 high school basketball games over four days at Woodland Hills. Mt. Lebanon’s Blaine Gartley drives for a shot Saturday. The event runs through Monday.
Butler coach Matt Clement was discussing guards Ethan Morton and Devin Carney when he said, “I’m not a guy who drops absolutes for everything. But we feel we have one of the better backcourts in the WPIAL.” Absolutely. Morton, a senior, and Carney, a sophomore, showed their dynamic duo powers Saturday night in a matchup between two of the top teams in the WPIAL.
Morton and Carney combined for 51 points, including 31 in the second half, to lead Butler to a 68-63 victory against Penn Hills in one of the top games at the MLK Weekend Stand Against Violence Showcase at Woodland Hills. Butler (11-4) is the Post-Gazette’s No. 6 team in WPIAL Class 6A and Penn Hills (11-3) No. 1 in Class 5A.
This game was one of the most-anticipated in the fourday event, which started Friday and will include 41 games through Monday. The Showcase features top boys and girls teams from the WPIAL as well as eastern Pennsylvania and out of state. Morton and Carney turned out to be the headliners against Penn Hills.
Morton, a standout 6-foot-6 point guard headed to Purdue, had 28 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks. He made 11 of 16 shots and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.
Carney, who averages just over 20 a game, scored 23 points.
“They’re very unique because you have one who can really, really score in Devin, and then Ethan, who can score, facilitate and do everything,” Clement said.
Penn Hills led at halftime, 34-26, and was ahead by 10 early in the third quarter. Butler went ahead late in the third quarter on Raine Gratzmiller’s 3-pointer. Butler opened up an eight-point lead at one point but Penn Hills came back and took the lead, 61-60, with 2:18 left. Carney and Morton scored Butler’s final eight points.
“Does anybody have an answer for Morton,” Penn Hills coach Dan DeRose said. “You try to do the best you can, but even if you doubleteam him, his vision is so good that he find those other guys. If those other guys bury shots, you’re in trouble. It’s really hard to defend them. You just have to hope you can score with them.”
More highlights
• In the grand scheme of things, a loss to a team from Philadelphia won’t mean anything for Mt. Lebanon’s seeding in the WPIAL at the end of the season. But Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David still was bothered by his team’s 70-66 loss to Math, Civics & Sciences. David was bothered by his team’s energy level — and losing to a
Philadelphia team. MCS (124) is a three-time defending PIAA Class 2A champion and ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 2A this year.
“We just didn’t play well at all,” David said. “I thought we played terrible. We didn’t shoot free throws well, but more importantly, it was an intensity thing.”
Mt. Lebanon (11-4), the Post-Gazette’s No. 3 WPIAL Class 6A team, held a 56-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter. But MCS scored the first eight points of the quarter to take a four-point lead. Mt. Lebanon cut the lead to 61-60 with a little over two minutes left, but could not overtake the Mighty Elephants.
Senior guard-forward Jake Hoffman scored 23 for Mt. Lebanon, but had only eight in the second half. “You don’t get many opportunities to beat Philadelphia and I told our guys that you’re representing our city here,” David said. “I said, ‘This is big. Let’s get these dudes.’ If we played our butts off and played wonderfully and tried our best, then you’d say they were just too much for us and don’t hang your heads. But we kind of let one slip away.”
• Steel Valley’s Cam Polak, who averages a little over 30 points a game, scored 27 against New Town, Md., but he had little help and the Ironmen were crushed, 76-41. New Town played a 1-2-2 zone most of the game and Polak rarely got an open shot. He was 9 of 24 from the field and 4 of 16 from 3-point range.
• One of the best players in the event was undoubtedly Justin Lewis, a 6-foot-7 forward from Baltimore Polytechnic who is headed to Marquette. Lewis was awfully impressive in an 86-67 victory against Chester, from near Philadelphia. Lewis, ranked the No. 99 senior in the country by Maxpreps.com, had 35 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks.
• St. Frances Academy, Md., has the No. 6-ranked girls team in the country, according to MaxPreps.com, and the Panthers (15-1) showed off their muscle, beating Oakland Catholic, 67-34. Oakland Catholic (10-4), the No. 4 WPIAL Class 5A school, trailed at halftime, 35-14.