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This past week, the Butler Varsity boys competed in the Warsaw Basketball tournament. We were seeded 7th and faced the #2 seed Panthers from Knob Noster, Tuesday December 3rd. The Bears led the entire game before losing at the buzzer 65-64.
Thursday the 5th we started slow against El Dorado Springs. The boys continued to battle back connecting 10/14 on Free throws in the 4th quarter which we ended up taking the lead late in the 4th quarter to win the game by 2, 53-51.
Saturday the 7th, we traveled back to Warsaw to face the host on their own floor. Fueled by our comeback victory from Thursday, the boys came out the gate firing. Once we took the big lead, we never looked back. Bryce Miller shot the lights out connecting 20 of his 24 points in the 1st half. Bryce averaged 19 points per game over the three games. Bears go on to win 69-44 over the Wildcats and to win the Consolation side of the tourney.
As happy as I am for winning Consolation side of our bracket after the great collapse of December 3rd; I’m more happy in the boys resilience and determination to bounce back and finish strong. I’ve heard often how much we have improved as a team since last year, and that’s great. But the one compliment I received that I hold the highest is one of a individual player. A spectator asked me about Ryan Black, and this is what he shared. “I enjoy watching him play. His enthusiasm on and off the court is fun to watch. When he’s on the bench, he’s clapping and cheering for his team. He’s upbeat and positive to his teammates on the floor, and yessir and no sir to his coaches and officials.”
This is the type of champion behavior I admire from all of my student athletes. Ryan just happens to be one of the leading examples that reflects how awesome the students are in our district.
Tomorrow at 6pm, the JV opens up at Sherwood. Varsity contest will start roughly at 7:30. This is the first regular season game that will count towards conference standings. Sherwood has gotten to a hot start (3-0) and playing very confident right now. I have some inside sources from Sherwood that shared they have Butler circled on the calendar. As flattered as we are that anyone chose to circle us on a calendar, I’m even more moved to say tomorrow Sherwood will get who they are asking for!
Come out and make some noise for your fighting Bears, and if you can’t make it, tune in to Prepcasts Bears All sport Network http://www.citylinktv.com/channel/butler-kcmw/
