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Slipped away
Golden Tornado lose lead, game vs. Norwin
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
WEXFORD— With 5:50 remaining in the game, Butler had Norwin right where the Golden Tornado wanted it.
Or so they thought.
The Tornado had a 45-40 lead with two of Norwin's best players, Mike Shanahan and Tyler Urban, saddled with four fouls each.
But the Knights outscored Butler 24-11 from that point on and posted a 64-56 WPIALClass AAAAboys basketball victory Friday night at North Allegheny.
"Playoff basketball is all about making plays,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "(Norwin) made a lot of big plays down the stretch."
Some of the biggest were made by 6-foot-4 senior guard Chris Matheny, who hit a 3-pointer to knot the game at 45 with 4:21 remaining. After Adam Dominick sank a free throw, Matheny got to the hoop for a layup and a 48-45 Norwin lead moments later.
A pair free throws by Butler's Nick Rossmiller trimmed the deficit to one point, but Shanahan and Matheny canned treys on consecutive possessions to give the Knights a 54-50 lead.
"If Shanahan and Urban aren't in foul trouble, Matheny may not even play in this game,"Norwin coach Lynn Washowich said. "He's had an up-and-down season, but he came up huge tonight."
Matheny underwent surgery in September to have a tumor removed from his side and was slow to work his way back into the lineup.
A Shanahan layup with 1:30 left gave Norwin (19-6) a 56-50 lead and the Tornado missed opportunities to draw closer. Butler's Mike Pratkanis and Cody Fleeger misfired on 3-point attempts and Jeff Slater had a layup roll off the rim.
Two Shanahan free throws gave the Knights a 58-50 lead with 47 seconds remaining. Pratkanis and Slater hit treys in the closing moments, but Butler (13-9) never threatened again.
Before Shanahan's free throws at the 47-second mark, neither team ever led by more than six points all night. The score was tied on 10 occasions and the lead changed hands eight times.
"When Shanahan and Urban went to the bench with four fouls and we were down five, I figured if we kept the deficit at five or six by the time they returned, we'd have a chance,"Washowich said.
"We actually had the lead when I put those two back in the game. Our kids really hung tough."
Shanahan led Norwin with 17 points and six rebounds, but he was held to six points in the first three quarters.
"We did a great job on him and the Dominick kid defensively,"Lewandowski said. "Our kids played hard tonight. For the first 30 minutes of this game, we controlled the tempo.
"They started hitting 3-point shots and we couldn't sag back in the paint down the stretch. That hurt our rebounding."
Urban had 14 points and six rebounds for Norwin while Matheny added 11 points off the bench.
Pratkanis paced Butler with 21 points, including a season-high five 3-pointers. Slater netted 16 points.
Rossmiller had seven Tornado rebounds despite picking up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter.
Butler had a 28-24 edge in rebounds and had 15 turnovers to Norwin's 10. The Knights turned the ball over only once while scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter.
"Butler played us tooth and nail inside,"Washowich said. "That was the first team we've played all year that stayed with us on the boards and wasn't intimidated by us physically."
Norwin won for the 11th time in 12 games and faces North Allegheny — an 81-55winner over Gateway — in the next round.
Butler's program says goodbye to eight seniors:Pratkanis, Fleeger, Slater, Rossmiller, Austin Snodgrass, Ryan Melder, Nick Powers and Clark Liebler.
Liebler and junior guard Christos Klutinoty missed the latter part of the season with knee injuries.
"This was a great senior class, not because of the big games they won or that they got to the playoffs, but because of the way they committed to the program and to each other," Lewandowski said. "That's what I'll remember."
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