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Impolite guests
Visiting SV holds down host Tornado
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP— His team never trailed, but Seneca Valley coach Vic Giannotta didn't care.
"Butler knows how to hang around,"he said. "I knew before this game started that it would be decided in the final two minutes.
"We missed three front ends of one-and-ones, but we rebounded the ball and we didn't turn it over during those last two minutes."
And the Raiders won, securing a 62-55 boys basketball victory over the Golden Tornado.
Seneca Valley's biggest lead of the night was 39-28 with 5:44 left in the third quarter. Butler responded with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 39.
Two free throws by Christos Klutinoty, 3-pointers by Jeff Slater and Cody Fleeger, and a three-point play by Nick Rossmiller got the Tornado even for the only time all night.
AJohn Fitzpatrick layup put the Raiders back in front, then Fleeger was called for an intentional foul as he came into contact with C.J. Brown from behind as the latter was driving to the hoop on a breakaway.
Brown sank both free throws and Dan Rohm nailed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving Seneca Valley (6-2, 2-2) a sudden seven-point advantage.
"That was a key part of the game,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "I couldn't get a good look at the foul, but (the Raiders) sure made it hurt."
Rohm hurt Butler from the 3-point arc, canning six treys on eight attempts.
A junior guard, Rohm was a junior varsity player last year and recalled hitting six 3-pointers in a JVgame.
"That's my tops. ... When I'm open, I toss it up. Sometimes it goes, sometimes it doesn't,"Rohm said. "I had a lot of open looks tonight."
Lewandowski said his team's emphasis was taking away the dribble penetration of Brown and Fitzpatrick.
"The consequence of doing that is guys like (Rohm) are gonna be open,"Lewandowski said. "The kid hit his shots and we didn't hit ours."
Rohm's final 3-pointer of the night gave Seneca Valley a 56-46 lead with 3:47 remaining. But Slater completed a three-point play for Butler at the other end.
While Rohm, Sean Gress and Brown all missed the front end of one-and-ones, Fleeger sank two free throws and Klutinoty canned a layup to pull the Tornado to within 56-53 with 1:06 to play.
Gress and Fitzpatrick sank two free throws each to give Seneca Valley a 60-53 lead with 57 seconds left and Butler never threatened again.
"We had to hit some free throws eventually and we did,"Giannotta said. "We wanted to contain Slater and I thought we did that.
"The (Pratkanis) kid is a good player. He's hard to defend. He's got my vote for all-section."
Pratkanis led Butler with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Slater had 13 points and three assists with Fleeger adding 11 points.
Fitzpatrick and Rohm had 18 points each for the Raiders while Brown had 14. Gress had five of 20 Seneca Valley rebounds
Seneca Valley sank its first four shots of the game — including two 3-pointers — to jump out to a 10-3 lead.
"It's huge when you can start out a game like that, especially on the road,"Rohm said. "It helped us to dictate the pace of the game right away.
"Road wins are tough to come by in section play. This one's big for us."
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