Dec 5, 2015 3 min read

CANONSBURG – With the opening of the WPIAL basketball season Friday night, the swift turnaround to Saturday’s contests could have been a quick way to erase bad opening night performances.

The Trinity faithful, which traveled in full force to its first game in Canon-McMillan’s Brian Anselmino Memorial Tip-Off Tournament against the host, were in search of what was thought to be a strength of the Hillers this season – offense. The Hillers managed an uninspiring nine field goals to culminate into 39 points in its opening loss to the Big Macs.

Latrobe, on the other hand, looked in midseason form against Wash High Friday, scoring 95 points, its most in a single game since 2007, which included Austin Butler’s 29-point performance.

Trinity could not avoid Butler’s effect Saturday night. The junior guard scored 40 points in only three quarters.

Despite the Hillers scoring more baskets in the first half than it did in their entire last game, the pressure, pace and hot shooting carried over for highly regarded Latrobe as it defeated Trinity, 92-64.

“What is unique about this team is that each player makes everyone better,” said Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel. “The thing about (Butler) is that he takes great shots.”

The Hillers fell victim to the pressure created by Latrobe.

Turnovers in Trinity’s backcourt allowed Latrobe to string 16 straight points together after three Sean Graytok layups and a corner three-pointer forced Trinity coach Tim Tessmer to call a timeout, down 19-3.

“We are still young and are going to make a lot of mistakes,” said Tessmer. “Our backcourt is good, but that’s a learning experience. That’s exactly why you play teams like that early on.”

Joey Koroly led the Hillers at the end of the first quarter with a seven-point run of their own. However, Butler scored 14 points in a stretch of three minutes that buried the Hillers.

“You hate to say when you lose by 30 that good things happened,” said Tessmer. “I think we just ran out of gas a little bit because we like to play more of a half-court game.”

Any energy Trinity might have gained by still only trailing 43-31 at halftime was quickly erased after a 38-point third quarter from Latrobe.

“Last night, there were times one guy was out of our (press) rotation,” said Wetzel. “Tonight, we stopped giving the release pass up. That allowed us to play the up-tempo game we love to play.”

Wetzel said the best man on the floor could have been Graytok, who had more than five steals and 20 points.

Koroly who contributed 20 points paced the Hillers.

Another good sign for Tessmer and Trinity, despite the 28-point loss, was the contributions of junior forwards Saul Wells and Robert Nelson, who each chipped in 10 points.

“Our big thing is consistency,” said Tessmer. “We look decent for a little bit and then terrible. If we can establish that, we will be alright this season.”