PIAA Boys' Basketball Roundup: Butler beats Erie Cathedral Prep, 60-52
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In what was much more of a landmark win than a reference to a board game, a certain phrase that had not been uttered in more than a decade was spoken Saturday.
The Butler did it in the PIAA playoffs.
Nate Swartwout scored 25 points and Butler earned its first PIAA playoff win since 1998 with a 60-52 victory against District 10 champion Erie Cathedral Prep in a Class AAAA first-round game at Gannon University in Erie.
Led by Swartwout, the Golden Tornado (16-10) used a big fourth quarter to pull out the win.
Butler trailed, 44-41, after three quarters, before outscoring the Ramblers (14-11), 19-8, in the final eight minutes.
Swartwout, who was 13 for 15 from the free-throw line overall, was 9 for 10 in the final quarter.
Vinnie Schmidt added 13 points for Butler, which was defeated by Gateway in the WPIAL semifinals.
Adam Blazek led the Ramblers with 18 points.
• Mt. Lebanon 60, State College 48: Paul Lang scored 24 points and Evan Eaton had 23 to lead the Blue Devils (24-3) to the come-from-behind win against District 6 champion State College (13-10) at Altoona. The Blue Devils fell behind by six points at the half, but outscored the Little Lions, 18-3, in the fourth quarter.
• Gateway 57, Erie McDowell 46: Devin Cottrell's 16 points led WPIAL champion Gateway (23-4) to the victory against District 10 runner-up Erie McDowell (17-9) at Norwin. Tyler Scott added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Gators.
• Summit Academy 44, North East 43: Derek Banks scored the winning points on a putback with eight seconds left to lift Summit Academy (17-9) to its first PIAA playoff win, a triumph against District 10 champion North East (19-7) at Gannon. North East missed two free throws with 1.1 seconds left. David Murray led the Knights with 16 points.
First Published March 13, 2011 12:00 am
