Butler loses in overtime at NJCAA tournament

In praising guard Ty Toney’s unselfishness against Butler on Tuesday, Georgia Highlands College basketball coach Paul Gaffney noted that Toney wasn’t “shooting it every time down the floor.”

Gaffney may have wanted him to, though. Toney made 14 of 17 shots, including two three-pointers in overtime, and scored 31 points in GHC’s 88-86 overtime win over the Grizzlies in the opening round of the NJCAA tournament at the Sports Arena.

Butler, an at-large selection into the 24-team field, committed 25 turnovers and couldn’t stop Toney, who made 14 of 17 two-point shots and 3 of 5 three-pointers.

“He scores a lot of ways,” Gaffney said of Toney. “You saw him shoot a three, you saw him post up and score, you saw him take people off the dribble, you saw him in the mid-range game. The mid-range game is kind of lost these days. Ty scores in every possible way you can score.”

Toney’s willingness to involve his teammates was evident at the end of regulation and the final seconds of overtime. Toney had the ball at the top of the key as the clock wound down in each situation, and Toney seemed the obvious candidate to take the shot even if he hadn’t already made most of his attempts.

But Toney passed both times. At the end of regulation, Taquan Givens missed a three-pointer from the wing. In overtime, Toney passed to Donovan Harris on the baseline, outside of the paint. Harris was fouled on a shot and made two free throws with 2.1 seconds to go.

Butler missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.

“They were packing it in from the wings,” Toney said. “I saw my teammate (Givens) open and I trust him, I know he can make that shot – he’s made it before. He just happened to miss. I’ll pass it every time if they’re playing like that.”

Butler trailed for much of the game before the teams traded the lead over the final four minutes. Lamar Wofford’s basket for Butler tied it 76-76 with 28 seconds to go in regulation before Givens missed as time expired.

The Grizzlies finally began to pull away at the beginning of overtime, twice taking five-point leads, including an 84-79 advantage with 2:41 to go. Toney made consecutive threes in a 32-second span, and Butler didn’t lead again.

“We just never felt like we could get multiple possessions in a row where we played our style of basketball, where we did the things we’ve been taught to do,” Butler coach Mike Bargen said. “It just felt like it was a difficult day with a lot of mistakes.”

Butler committed 16 turnovers in the first half, but eventually Georgia Highlands’ defense became too aggressive, with five players drawing at least four fouls. The Grizzlies had a more palatable nine giveaways in the second half and overtime, but they never permanently found their comfort zone with the ball.

Toney did, though, even with a stretch of ineffectiveness. He picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and didn’t score or take a shot for the first 10 minutes. But he scored 19 points in the final 15 minutes, making 8 of 9 shots.

“We let him get going in the mid-range,” Bargen said. “Too many easy catches on the block. When you let guys start seeing the ball go in the basket that many times, then you have those two threes that go in in overtime and change the factor of the game. For some reason, we didn’t seem to understand how to keep the ball out of his hands.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2015 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Butler loses in overtime at NJCAA tournament."