Butler’s Ethan Morton brings home 3-on-3 tournament title

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Sunday, April 14, 2019 | 10:24 PM

Opponents would rather not go one-on-one against Butler rising star Ethan Morton.

Of course, Morton also is pretty good at three-on-three.

Morton returned home from Colorado this weekend a champion after he and his three teammates on Team Attack won the USA Basketball 3×3 National Championship.

The team finished 8-0 over the two-day competition. Other players are Davin Askew, a sophomore at Mater Dei High School (Calif.), Chicago’s Nimari Burnett of Prolific Prep, and MVP Dawson Garcia of Prior Lake, Minn.

The 6-foot-6, 205-pound Morton helped Attack go 5-0 in pool play, before the team picked up wins in the semifinals and finals, the latter 22-13 over Team Pursuit.

.@NimariBurnett hits from deep & Team Attack take the 22-13 win to become the 2019 USA Basketball 3×3 U18 National Champions! pic.twitter.com/66pVuLueDX

— USA Basketball 3×3 (@usab3x3) April 14, 2019

Morton, who has scholarship offers from Pitt, Michigan, Creighton, Oregon, Marquette, Vanderbilt, Ohio State and others, was not the only WPIAL name at the event, played at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Four juniors — Highlands’ Luke Cochran, Shenango’s Colin McQuiston, Latrobe’s Michael Noonan and Patrick Shanahan of Pine-Richland — all played for Cubs Hoops, which finished 2-5.

Sophomores Joey Petash of Pine-Richland and Brayden Reynolds of Chartiers Valley were on Team Cure (2-4).

A number of WPIAL girls also played, including juniors Jordan Kauffman of Butler, Maddie Dziezgowski of Bethel Park and Isabella Pelaia of Mars, all of whom played for Team Bruins (0-6).

Juniors Kylee Lewandowski and Tess Myers of North Catholic and Jayla Wehner of Norwin, along with sophomore Lizzy Groetsch of North Allegheny were on Team Western PA Elite, which finished 2-4.

There were 22 states represented on the girls’ side and 10 from the boys’. Pennsylvania had the most players with 19.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Butler, Chartiers Valley, Highlands, Latrobe, North Allegheny, North Catholic, Norwin, Pine-Richland