By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
This past week, Jamarion Butler became the second player to represent the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford mens’ basketball team as the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player of the Week.
“Personally, it feels good to win the Player of the Week and to be able to put on for the city of Bradford, put on for the program and to put on for myself as well,” said Butler. “It means a lot.”
Through three games, Butler averaged 31.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, shooting 55.9 percent from the field. First, in Pitt-Bradford’s first loss of the season against Wooster on Sunday, Dec. 29, Butler led the Panthers in both scoring and rebounding with 33 points and seven boards alongside 50 percent shooting (12-for-24) and two steals. The following day, he recorded a double-double with 31 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 63 percent (12-for-19) in the Panthers 102-97 win over Case Western. Finally, in the last game of the week, the senior finished the week by leading the Panthers to victory over the two-time defending AMCC champions La Roche. In Saturday’s 105-94 win, Butler again scored 31 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists – all team highs.
“Coming back over the break, coach (Jesse DeLoof) told us to stay in the gym, stay on the treadmill and so that’s really what I did. I limited myself from playing in the open gym to avoid getting hurt so I just got a lot of shots up on my own,” said Butler. “I kept my cardio right and it’s showing on the court.”
Through the 12 games this season, Butler’s stats have increased in almost every category from the year before. Currently, he is averaging 22.8 points a night (5.1 more that last year), 7.1 rebounds (1.1 more than last year) and 2.2 steals a game (a slight 0.5 increase from last year). As well, his shooting efficiency has increased to 55.3 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from 3-point range (raised from 44.4 percent and 14.3 percent from a year ago).
“It comes down to understanding the game more and being coachable for DeLoof. He’ll sit me down and break down the game, just letting me know that we’re kind of going to run the offense and defense through me,” said Butler. “So I just go out there and perform and keep my teammates involved. I just stick to the script and be the best I can be.”
Tallying another win last night over Carlow, the Panthers sit at 11-1 overall and a conference-leading 4-0 in AMCC play. They will take to the road on Saturday to face Penn St.-Behrend (7-6 overall, 2-2 in AMCC) before returning to KOA Arena on Wednesday to host Alfred St. (2-11 overall, 1-3 in AMCC).
“I feel like we’re performing really well and we still haven’t played our best game. That’s really the scary part,” said Butler. “We just keep growing, keep getting better in practice. DeLoof is hard on us, he’s not going to tell us anything is perfect. So we’re still growing and haven’t even reached our peak yet.”
