Mitch Craine gets fouled on the way up. He hit 4/4 free throws on an otherwise woeful foul shot night for Butler. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
Two things you can’t teach: Effort and size. The Butler Aviators have plenty of both and flexed their hustle and rebounding muscles on Troy in 55-43 home win. The Aviators completed the sweep of the Trojans, and improved to 11-3 on the season.
Vandalia, Oh – You can’t win every game on game day. The Butler Aviators officially beat Troy on January 20th, but it was the kind of game that’s won between April and October. That’s when Butler built the muscle and hustle it took to fend off Troy for a 55-43 win.
Alan Brads writes OHSAA sports and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“We as a team pride ourselves on playing hard all the time,” junior forward Mitch Craine said. “When we go out there, we’re gonna give 110% every time to try to come out on top. Down the stretch tonight, we dove on loose balls, got all the rebounds, and did whatever we had to do.”
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In the age of a thousand things to do, watch, play, and scroll in the offseason, Butler didn’t waste it. The Aviators had plenty of meat on their bones last season, but they came back even bigger and stronger this year.
“Coach said pre-game that our effort, our defense, and our hustle would win the game,” senior forward Julius Rusk said. “And we executed that really well.”
Muscle and hustle earned Butler 12 offensive rebounds, even amid 6’5” Trojan Kardel Winfield, who they held to five rebounds – well below his average of 8.3.
Brady O’Leary lunges at the evasive Troy Fletcher in search of a rare takeaway.
Rusk and head coach Andy Holderman both noted that more than once they boxed out so zealously as a team that they glossed over the step of grabbing the rebound, leaving the ball to hit the hardwood.
Butler (11-3, 11-2) doesn’t dazzle with its straight-line speed, but the big forwards move and pass well, and as a team, they know when to strike quickly.
“Coach always tells us to push it down the floor,” Rusk said. “And we’re good at executing fast breaks. So if we see somebody down the court, we’re gonna throw it.”
Craine scored twice in the first quarter on up-tempo offensive possessions that put the ball in the paint before Troy was set and ready to defend, even though takeaways didn’t instigate those possessions.
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They didn’t rack up a dozen steals, which is fine when you can limit opponents to one shot. But when they did take it away, it usually produced points on the fast break. Senior forward Julius Rusk is third in the conference in steals, and he doesn’t guard ball handlers on the dribble. He just hunts for opportunities to rip the ball away from opponents with the rock in hand, and doesn’t take no for an answer.
Randall Armstrong elevates and slams the door shut on Troy in the fourth quarter.
He swiped three steals, each of which led to a Butler basket, including his two-handed slam in the first quarter.
In the third quarter, he grabbed one such steal, took it to the rack, and scored while getting fouled. He missed the freebie, but fellow senior Charlie Neely grabbed the rebound and hit a jumper to make it a four-point steal.
Rusk led all scorers with 15 points, Troy Fletcher scored 13, and Craine added 12. Craine was the only effective free-throw shooter (4/4) as the team shot 8/20.
Brady O’Leary led Troy with 11 points, followed by Josh Murphy with 10.
The Trojans have accomplished enough this season to prove they weren’t idle all summer either, and have plenty of chances to further prove themselves between now and the tournament draw. They fell to 8-7 (7-5 MVL) with the loss, and have a tough few weeks ahead, including Xenia (7-6), Stebbins (10-5), West Carrollton (12–4), Tri-Village (14-0) and Tippecanoe (10-1).
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O’Leary microwaved the Trojan offense in the first quarter, hitting three threes in as many minutes. But Butler stuffed them back in the freezer before they had time to fully thaw. The normally accurate Trojans only hit three more threes as a team after O’Leary’s jumpstart.
Butler’s Dion Casey shows off the vertical that helps him lead the team in blocks. Ethane Adkin’s three-pointer was forced off line.
After a few early lapses, improved on-ball defense prevented Troy from hoisting more uncontested threes.
“We knew he was gonna score,” Holderman said. “Those guys all have the green light over there, so we knew he was gonna keep firing. Early on we had to help on the dribble drive, so the close out wasn’t what it needed to be. In the second half we did a better job of defending the ball. And that allowed the help to not come in as far, which put us closer to the shooter, and now they’re contested.”
Five straight points from Rusk mitigated O’Leary’s damage, and Butler trailed 13-11 after the first quarter.
Butler held Troy’s leading scorers, Malakyi Hall and Winfield, to a combined four points in the first half. Winfield didn’t play in the first matchup between rivals, which the Aviators took 58-53. This time he was present but largely erased by Rusk’s defense and box outs.
“Our focus mainly was to stop the dribble drive and contest shots,” Holderman said. “And after you do all that, you gotta finish the deal by blocking out and going to get a rebound. And I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job of that.”
Brady O’Leary tests Butler’s interior defense, which shored up quickly after the first quarter.
The new and improved on-ball defense bought Butler a 23-21 halftime lead.
Rusk carried the load in the third quarter, tallying seven points, two steals, and a backboard-rattling swat block on a fast break.
A pair of Josh Murphy triples kept Troy in it through three quarters, down 40-36 headed to the fourth.
It didn’t feel quite that close, even though Troy led much of the first half.
The Butler defense went full throttle in the fourth quarter. A free throw, a second-chance bucket, and a fast break score off a rebound pushed the lead to nine. Then Troy’s defense got caught away from home, and 5’8” guard Randall Armstrong buried a wide-open three, and buried the Trojans along with it.
“Down the stretch we just executed as a whole team and played together,” Craine said. “We really locked in on the defensive side in the second half and boxed out. That’s what we did that we needed to do to come out on top.”
The Miami Valley League title remains beyond Butler’s control, but if Tipp gets knocked off by the likes of West Carrollton or Troy, the Aviators would have a shot to reclaim a share of the championship with a win in Tipp City in the season finale.
But that depends on them taking care of their own business. Then, and only then, with a bit of good fortune, they can take the bus eight miles up I-75 with hardware on their minds.
Julius Rusk Flushes a fast break dunk. His three steals each led to Aviator baskets.
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