Central Meets Match In CRC Setback
Purdue Commit Nets Second Triple-Double In Tournament History
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WHEELING -- Wheeling Central knows when it commits to play in the annual Cancer Research Classic, it's embarking on a huge challenge.
Some challenges -- including Saturday morning's game against Butler -- are even bigger than huge.
The Maroon Knights (6-2) -- for the second straight CRC -- ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Ethan Morton, Devin Carney and the entire Golden Tornado squad and were handed a 78-46 setback.
"We knew they were good just by the guys they had returning from last year," Central coach Mel Stephens said. "We come into the CRC with the goal of, no matter what the result is, to learn from this and get better. (Butler) showed us some areas in which we need to get better, so we'll get back to practice Monday and try to get better."
Central actually led the game, 9-8, at the media timeout in the first quarter.
From there, Butler took over.
The Golden Tornado scored the final 13 of the first quarter, including a brilliant effort from Carney, who connected on 6 of the 8 shots he took during the period for 14 points.
"Carney was unbelievable," Stephens complimented. "We thought we had a pretty good defensive gameplan coming into the game, but he made some shots that were impressive. We knew he could shoot it, but we had hoped he'd miss a few, but he didn't."
Things never got any better from Central, which struggled mightily from the field. It connected on just 8 of 32 shots in the first half and only 18 of 61 in the game for a chilly 29.5 percent. Compounding matters, the Knights were just 4 of 24 from the 3-point line.
"Once it got away from us a little bit, I think we pressed a little bit, which allowed them to get out in transition and run," Stephens said. "We struggled shooting again. We've not been shooting the ball well from the perimeter the last few games, and I think (their size) intimidated us a little bit."
As shots continued to clang off the rim in the third quarter, Butler extended its lead to 64-34 at the final stop.
Morton, who is headed to Purdue, played only 19 minutes in the game and just one possession in the fourth quarter. On that possession, he found Mattix Clement in transition for an assist, giving him just the second triple-double in CRC history.
All told, Morton finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Many of those assists went to either Carney, who pumped in 26 points, en route to sharing the MVP honor with Morton, or the Clement Brothers -- Mattix and Madden -- that went for 16 and nine, respectively.
Wheeling Central produced only one double-figure scorer. J.C. Maxwell had 17 points. No other Maroon Knight scored more than six.
Central makes its home-court debut Tuesday when Cameron comes calling.