SOUTHEAST 3A REGIONAL: Catholic holds off BTW at advance to regional final
Myles Butler finds a lane to the hoop in Catholic’s win over Booker T. Washington on Monday. (By Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
For much of the 2019-20 season, Justin Bufford’s shooting has carried the Montgomery Catholic basketball team to a very successful season.
On Monday, the Knights got a taste of what it was like to play without Bufford.
Booker T. Washington’s intense, physical defense held Bufford without a field goal for the first 21 minutes of the game but Myles Butler and DJ Carter picked up the scoring slack, combining for 32 points as the Knights advanced to the regional finals with a 63-52 win over Booker T. Washington on Monday afternoon.
“That’s why we’ve got a team, plain and simple,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “Justin’s done a lot to help us get to this point and other guys have, too. And there’s going to be nights when it’s not his night and tonight was Myles’ night.”
Catholic (29-4) will face Montevallo in the Alabama High School Athletic Association 4A Southeast Regional final on Wednesday at 5:54 p.m. at Garrett Coliseum, with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Birmingham. Booker T. Washington ends the season at 21-8.
“We knew what was coming,” Butler said. “We knew as a team we were going to have to start stepping up and making shots because he wasn’t going to be able to go for 30 or 40 every night. So when we saw it, it wasn’t like ‘oh, we’ve got to score’ because we already knew it was coming.
“We knew they were going to bring pressure and come at ‘JB,’ so we just had to step and make shots.”
Catholic opened with 3-pointers from Carter and Butler, storming out to a 14-2 lead in the first five minutes. Just as quickly, BTW rallied with 11 consecutive points to trim the deficit to a point. Although the Golden Eagles never got any closer the remainder of the game, their intense defense made the Knights fight for every possession and point over the final 27 minutes.
“We knew they were good, had a lot of respect for those guys,” Curry said. “They kept me up last night. They play hard, they’re athletic, they’re well coached. Listen, everybody’s going to be good at this point. But I told my guys today and leading up to this week, all we’ve got to do is be who we are. That’s what got us here.”
BTW trailed by just four points at the half but Butler came out with a pair of 3-pointers to open the second half and put the Knights back in control.
“My shot was ‘on’ tonight so I just took shots when I was open and knocked them down,” Butler said.
“Teammates found him,” Curry said, “and once he made one, they kept looking for him. And he responded.”
Bufford finally made his first basket with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter and again in the final minute of the third quarter, getting knocked to the floor on both occasions. After starting the game 0 for 8, he finished with 11 points on 4 of 14 shooting, adding a game-high five assists and a game-high nine rebounds.
Butler’s trio of 3-pointers gave him 17 points and eight rebounds for the night, followed by Carter with 15 points and Johntavius Green with 10 points.
“We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game so we just kept playing,” Butler said. “Keep our composure, don’t let the crowd get to us, don’t let the refs get to us, just be who we are and do what we’ve got to do.”
Martez Jones led BTW with 19 points, followed by Jeffery Lewis with 10.
Catholic is making only its third trip to the regional finals since winning the 2000 state title, advancing to the quarterfinals in Troy in 2001 and in Dothan in 2017.