Butler boys top Pine-Richland thanks to Morton’s buzzer-beater

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 27, 2018 | 2:17 PM

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As Ethan Morton’s final shot fell through the net, a buzzer-beater from beyond the arc, Butler’s student section flooded the floor.

The star sophomore said he’s made other winners but none quite like this.

With the score tied and 3.6 seconds left, Morton drove down the right sideline, cut hard to his left and buried a pull-up jumper over an outstretched arm to defeat host Pine-Richland, 77-74, on Friday with a standing-room crowd holding its breath.

His shot earned him an on-court celebration with dozens of his closest friends.

The victory jumps Butler (15-2, 7-2) over Pine-Richland (13-4, 6-2) into second place in Section 1-6A. Central Catholic (9-6, 8-1) leads the section but has matchups ahead with both challengers.

Pine-Richland won 80-64 at Butler on Dec. 22.

“The record could be a lot different,” Clement said, noting his team graduated 10 players from last year’s WPIAL runner-up roster. “A lot of it has to do with Ethan’s will to win. Ethan has such a will to win. It’s not always him making the plays but him giving confidence to all these young kids and everybody else.”

The 6-foot-4 point guard is only a sophomore but already a major Division I recruit. He added an offer from Purdue this week.

“If you get them an opportunity at the end of the game to win it, more times than not, Ethan Morton is going to win the game,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann said. “That’s the kind of player he is.”

Friday’s game was close throughout with Butler ahead 61-60 entering the fourth.

Pine-Richland led 23-22 after one quarter. But Butler shot well from the perimeter, made nine first-half 3s and led 48-43 at halftime.

Dan Petcash led Pine-Richland with 25 points, including consecutive 3-pointers late in the fourth to lead 74-71 with 1 minute, 12 seconds left. A layup with 45 seconds by Butler’s Luke Michalek forced a 74-74 tie.

Michalek scored 16 points.

“We had opportunities,” Ackermann said. “Our defense let them score 48 points in the first half. That really, really surprised me. They’re a really good team, but I didn’t think they had that much firepower.”

In the final five seconds, Pine-Richland had four chances to take the lead at the foul line. After junior Andrew Kristofic missed two free throws in his first game action this season, Jurkovec grabbed the offensive rebound but missed two more with 3.6 seconds left.

Jurkovec finished with 13 points.

“There’s no chance in this world I would have thought Phil would miss any let alone both,” Clement said. “There’s no person in the WPIAL who has more respect for Phil Jurkovec than me, no opposing person, I promise you that. We got lucky.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Charlan_Trib.

Tags: Butler, Pine-Richland