(2020) PG Ethan Morton to Purdue

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

Morton finished his regular season - 21 games - with a 27.4 ppg average.

[Bailey7878 2,506]

Nice, with IU and OSU having lesser years that must put UM in a good spot. Although coach Beilein has never had incredible recruiting prowess.  

Beilein does not need highly ranked guys to kill it. Look at his current team.

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[moyemayhem 1,261]

This kid should be our top priority in 2020.  He's from Archie's backyard, he's a big guard, he can create offense for himself and others, and he can SHOOT.  Morton is a perfect fit for what we need.

[MoyeNeeded 3,073]

58 minutes ago, moyemayhem said:

This kid should be our top priority in 2020.  He's from Archie's backyard, he's a big guard, he can create offense for himself and others, and he can SHOOT.  Morton is a perfect fit for what we need.

BAM! Liking him better than Leal and the rest.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

Morton and Butler HS have moved into state tournament action but I have no idea what the tournament structure/format is in Pennsylvania.   Today Butler beat Upper St. Clair 75 - 70.  Morton scored 32 and was 15 of 16 from the line.

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette game write-up for Butler's win over St. Clair earlier today.

One dribble, two dribbles, three dribbles. Spin it in the hands. Pause. Shoot.

That’s Ethan Morton’s routine for shooting free throws. Time after time, Upper St. Clair had to watch that routine in the second half Saturday in a WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal. Sixteen times, to be exact. And 15 times, Morton’s routine ended with the ball going through the net.

Morton, Butler High School’s terrific junior, put on a free-throw-shooting clinic and his marksmanship from 15 feet away put Butler one step closer to a WPIAL title. Butler defeated Upper St. Clair, 75-70, at Canon-McMillan High School to earn a semifinal berth for the second time in three seasons. Butler (19-4), the No. 5 seed, will play No. 1 Pine-Richland Wednesday at Fox Chapel for the third time this season.

Morton finished with 32 points. He took only 10 shots and made six. He went to the free-throw line 18 times in the game and made 17, including 15 in the second half.

“Foul shooting is a way to control the game,” Morton said. “I’ll just do whatever it takes to win.”

Morton is a 6-foot-6 point guard with a number of big-time college scholarship offers. He averages almost a triple-double. One area of his game that might be overlooked is his free-throw shooting. It shouldn’t be, especially in critical situations. Morton was 11 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

Morton is shooting 82 percent from the free-throw line this season, and that is down from his first two years as a Butler varsity player.

“Listen, he’s been like that at the free-throw line since third grade, and especially at the end of the game when people are fouling him,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “When he puts everything on himself at the line, I know what the result is going to be.”

By the way, Morton also pulled down 11 rebounds, dished out 7 assists and blocked 4 shots.

“We changed our defense a little bit, hoping to have someone on him and also someone behind him when he got the ball,” Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer said. “But he’s such a good player. At the end of the game, we were trying to keep the ball out of his hands and we had to take some chances. But despite all that, it was still a one-possession game. We missed a couple shots in the latter part of the fourth quarter that went in and out.”

Butler took a 64-56 lead with 4:57 left, but Upper St. Clair (19-4), the No. 4 seed, came back and trailed by only 65-62 when Davie Pantelis was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1:30 left. He made two free throws to bring the Panthers to 65-64. Morton made two free throws with 1:14 left to put Butler ahead by three and was 8 of 8 from the line in the final 1:30.

“This game means so much to Ethan,” Clement said. “I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s because of all those people in the stands. That’s why it means so much to him. He wants them to be excited, he wants the school to be excited and he wants the community to be excited.”

Butler’s young guns aided Morton. Freshman Devin Carney had three 3-pointers and 12 points. Sophomore Mattix Clement, the coach’s son, made two 3-pointers and scored 11 points.

The game was close throughout. For much of the first half, Butler played a two-man zone with three players in man-to-man. Butler also played a 2-3 zone for most of the second half. Four Upper St. Clair players scored in double figures, led by Chris Pantelis and Ben Sandusky with 14 each. Upper St. Clair made 11 3-pointers and Butler nine.

“There’s no question we haven’t been the best defensive team this year,” Matt Clement said. “But you can still be creative and still make it hard on people.”

Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.

First Published February 23, 2019, 6:31pm

[yogisballin 2,288]

I would absolutely love to see this kid in the stripes! Agree with Moye on this one. I’m not saying the others aren’t legit and not dogging them.


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[ray 1,559]

1 hour ago, yogisballin said:

I would absolutely love to see this kid in the stripes! Agree with Moye on this one. I’m not saying the others aren’t legit and not dogging them.


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My brother has been telling me for awhile this is his favorite recruit.

He might be the most important recruit for Indiana in the short-term (which becomes long-term) we’re talking about.

[HoosierSadaseci 2,258]

I like the looks of this kid, would be a nice addition, hope Archie can reel him in.

[yogisballin 2,288]

Saw someone mention on here of a possible reclass? This real talk or just speculation?


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[BGVille Hoosierfan 2,882]

Saw someone mention on here of a possible reclass? This real talk or just speculation?


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I remember hearing about this as well. I believe it came from another site. I would love for this to be the case.


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[ap2345 7,098]

Saw someone mention on here of a possible reclass? This real talk or just speculation?


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I’ve never seen this mentioned by a single credible source. I think this was just message board speculation.


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[lillurk 3,668]

I think he may have played up a year in AAU (@Uspshoosier probably knows if he did), but I was worried about underwhelming AAU #s last year.

[Uspshoosier 44,225]

I think he may have played up a year in AAU ([mention=4127]Uspshoosier[/mention] probably knows if he did), but I was worried about underwhelming AAU #s last year.

Yeah he played up a year on a team with kofi kockburn and jalen Lecque. When I watched he didn’t put up huge numbers but he was the one making the right plays and talking on defense non stop. He has a real feel for the game. After watching him he became the 2020 player I wanted IU to target the most at that time


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[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

Mike White  - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:  Halftime Pine-Richland leads Butler 32-26. Indiana coach Archie Miller in the house to see Ethan Morton.

 

I believe this is a state tournament semi-final game for Butler.

 

 

[RatpigHoosier 1,022]

Great to see this


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[ray 1,559]

19 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Mike White  - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:  Halftime Pine-Richland leads Butler 32-26. Indiana coach Archie Miller in the house to see Ethan Morton.

 

I believe this is a state tournament semi-final game for Butler.

 

 

This makes me happy. I hope it makes Ethan even more happy. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

Butler came from behind in the 3rd Q to defeat Pine-Richland 70-68.  Morton fouled out with .2 sec. remaining in regulation putting a Pine-Richland player on the line to shoot a 1 and 1 but he missed the front end and Butler got the win. 

With 1 minute left, Butler had a 70-59 lead and allowed PR to score 9 unanswered points.

Morton finished with 40 points.  It was reported he had 24 pts. at the end of the 3rd Q so he just took the game over in the 4th for Butler. 

From what I recall reading earlier, Pine-Richland was favored to win the tournament so this would be an upset win for Butler.  Be sure to check back tomorrow as I should be able to find a good game story with more details.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,959]

PIttsburgh Post-Gazette -

Butler coach Matt Clement stood outside his team’s locker room, hunched over and said, “I’m about ready to pass out.”

And his team won.

Butler upset Pine-Richland, 70-68, in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals Wednesday night at Fox Chapel and the ending was excruciating – for both teams.

Pine-Richland, the No. 1 seed, almost pulled off a stunning comeback for the second consecutive game, coming back from a 70-56 deficit with 1:04 left. Butler star Ethan Morton fouled out with 31 seconds left and Pine-Richland used some Butler turnovers and some big outside shots to cut the deficit to 70-68 with 16 seconds left.

Butler’s Mattix Clement, son of the coach, missed two free throws with 8.8 seconds left. Pine-Richland hurried up the court and Kyle Polce took a pass at the top of the key. Butler’s Luke Patten jumped in the air to possibly block a shot, but flipped over a player on the way down and hit the back of his head on the court. Patten was called for a foul with .2 second left in the game.

The game was delayed 15 minutes. Players from both teams knelt on the floor while doctors and paramedics attended to Patten. He was taken off on a stretcher to a cheering crowd.

The players returned to the court and Clement called a timeout to ice Polce, who had made four 3-pointers in the game. With a sellout crowd on its feet, noise filling the gym, Polce dribbled three times, spun the ball in his hands and lofted a shot. It hit the rim and the ball bounced off a Butler player an the buzzer sounded. Bedlam erupted on the Butler sideline.

“With Luke going down, Ethan fouling out and we had three freshmen and a sophomore on the court at the end of the game,” Matt Clement said in a sense of amazement and relief. “After all that happened, to walk out of here with a win … I’m exhausted. But I’m really, really proud of my guys.”

Clement said initial reports on Patten were good.

“All of the feeling is there,” Clement said. “That’s the most important thing on a crazy night.”

Morton made it an unforgettable night. A 6-foot-6 junior point who is heavily recruited by big-time colleges, Morton scored 40 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as Butler avenged two losses to Pine-Richland. With Indiana Hoosiers coach Archie Miller sitting in the front row watching, Morton got to the basket at will and made 13 of 22 shots. He also was 14 of 18 from the free-throw line. This came after he scored 32 points in the quarterfinals against Upper St. Clair.

Morton’s 40 points tied the third-most ever scored in a WPIAL playoff game in the largest classification. Mark Marotta of Central Catholic scored 48 in 1980 and Fred Ingles of Mt. Lebanon scored 41 in 1988. Morton’s output tied Shaler’s Danny Fortson (1994) and Penn Hills’ Drew Schifino (2000).

“I just feel so bad for Luke. This so tough and we’re all just praying for him,” said Morton. “This is a little bit of a hollow feeling after a win like that. But his effort won us the game, putting [Polce] on the free-throw line instead of giving him the 3.”

Polce led Pine-Richland with 20 points and guard Greg Shulkosky added 17. Dan Petcash, the team’s leading scorer, had only 12 points. The game was tied, 56-56, at one point in the fourth before Butler went on a 14-0 run. Pine-Richland missed its first nine 3-pointers of the final quarter.

Butler will face Mt. Lebanon in the championship game.

[BGleas 7,880]

20 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Mike White  - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:  Halftime Pine-Richland leads Butler 32-26. Indiana coach Archie Miller in the house to see Ethan Morton.

 

I believe this is a state tournament semi-final game for Butler.

 

 

This was a District playoff game (I think Sectionals in Indiana is the comparison) in PA. The state tournament begins next week. I live in PA, though not close to Pittsburgh. I'm about 25 minutes away from where the State Title games are played. Hoping to catch them if Butler makes the finals.