Cool hand Luke
WEXFORD — Three bombs — and Chartiers Valley was blown away.
Butler sank three 3-pointers in the final two minutes — including the game-winner by Luke Hartung with 1.8 seconds remaining — to stun second-seeded Chartiers Valley, 56-54, in the WPIAL Class AAAA boys basketball playoffs Wednesday night at North Allegheny.
The win sends the Golden Tornado (12-11) into the quarterfinal round against section rival North Allegheny Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Butler defeated NA twice during the regular season.
“I don't know what to say ... even where to begin in talking about this game,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We trailed the whole game. Everyone kept fighting. So many people contributed.”
The Tornado trailed by as many as nine — 42-33 — with 1:19 left in the third quarter and the Colts (20-3) took a 44-36 advantage into the final quarter. Butler had not led since assuming a 12-10 edge at the end of the first quarter before Hartung's game-winner.
Chartiers Valley entered the game on a six-game winning streak, winning those games by an average margin of 33 points.
“We knew this one was gonna be tight,” Colts coach Tim McConnell said. “There's so much parity in Quad-A this year. There's no way Butler is a 15-seed.
“That's a darn good basketball team. They made us work for everything we got.”
And they didn't get enough.
Chartiers Valley had a 51-47 lead with 2:20 to play when Jerrod Tuite missed the front end of a one-and-one. Cody West answered with a trey at the other end to cut the gap to 51-50 with 1:54 on the clock.
Wayne Capers stuck back an offensive rebound for the Colts with 1:28 to go and Butler turned the ball over with 36.5 seconds left. Tuite hit one of two free throws for a 54-50 lead with 34.1 ticks remaining.
Nate Snodgrass — who paced Butler with 33 points — drained a trey with 22.2 seconds to go and the Tornado fouled CV's Christian Kuntz four seconds later.
Kuntz missed the front end of the one-and-one, David Tompkins grabbed the rebound, and Snodgrass brought the ball up the floor, his team trailing, 54-53.
“Nate hit for 33 tonight. He was on fire all night,” Hartung said. “I figured he'd take our last shot. I think everybody did.”
As Snodgrass approached the 3-point stripe, Hartung's defender left him to collapse on Snodgrass.
“I saw that kid leave Luke to come at me,” Snodgrass said. “All I thought was, get the ball to Luke. There was no one on him.
“I knew he'd hit that shot.”
Hartung took the pass, stepped into the shot and let the 3-pointer fly.
Nothing but net.
“That was the best ... the biggest shot of my life,” Hartung said.Clement said no one on the team works harder than Hartung.“He hasn't had the kind of season he anticipated, but he never quit working, never gave up on himself,” Clement said. “I give him credit for even pulling the trigger there.“Zach Slater hit the big shot at the end of the game to beat Shaler (in the playoffs) last year. Luke's shot may have moved in front of that one.”After three consecutive timeout calls, Shaler inbounded with 1.8 seconds to go. A long pass down the floor to Capers bounced off the senior guard as he went to the floor and time expired.“Yeah, I thought he was fouled there. It looked like they knocked him to the floor,” McConnell said of Capers. “But they're not gonna make that call, nor did I expect them to, not in a situation like that.”Snodgrass had six assists to go with his 33 points. No other Tornado player scored more than six. Matt Baranchak had 12 rebounds as the Tornado enjoyed a 26-20 edge on the boards against a bigger Chartiers Valley team.“Matt followed the gameplan perfectly,” Clement said. “He made No. 21 (6-foot-6 Spencer Casson) almost invisible out there. We don't win this game without his efforts on the boards.”Butler sank six total treys in the game.“We run set plays on a lot of those and they (Colts) knew some of them,” West said. “On my three (to make it 51-50), they knew the play and I still got a great screen from Baranchak and Trevor Wideman.“That's just guys working hard to set me up. I didn't want to let my teammates down.”Capers paced Chartiers Valley with 27 points, including three treys. Tuite added 17 points, Kuntz eight points and eight rebounds.Capers, son of former Pittsburgh Steeler receiver Wayne Capers, is headed to the University of Arizona on scholarship to play quarterback.“That kid is a warrior,” McConnell said. “I'll go to battle with him anytime.”“He was hitting shots we never saw on film — and I watched 12 tapes of their games,” Clement said. “A big-time athlete in a big-game setting ... You know what you're gonna get.”But Butler survived.“These guys love the playoffs,” Clement said, shaking his head.<B>BUTLER 56</B>Nate Snodgrass 10-16 10-11 33, Keenan Krause 0-0 0-0 0, Cody West 2-8 0-0 6, Seth Horwat 0-0 0-0 0, Dom Pusateri 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Hartung 2-5 0-0 5, Matt Baranchakl 1-2 2-4 4, David Tompkins 2-3 0-0 4, Trevor Wideman 1-4 0-0 2. <B>Totals:</B> 19-40 12-16 56.<B>CHARTIERS VALLEY 54</B>Christian Kuntz 3-3 2-3 8, Wayne Capers 10-18 4-6 27, Jerrod Tuite 6-11 3-5 17, Spencer Casson 1-2 0-2 2, Zachery Wallace 0-1 0-0 0, Matty McConnell 0-2 0-0 0, Michael Boulos 0-1 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 20-38 9-17 54.<B>Butler 12 8 16 20—56Chartiers Valley 10 17 17 10—543-point goals:</B> Butler 6 (Snodgrass 3, West 2, Hartung); Chartiers Valley 5 (Capers 3, Tuite 2).<B>Saturday:</B> Butler vs. North Allegheny, WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals, site and time TBA
