Butler basketball coach Matt Clement has watched Ethan Morton play since Morton was in first grade. Eight years later, Clement has a blossoming star on his hands with possible big-time college potential.
“From day one, I knew he would be good,” said Clement. “But what he’s turned into and what he potentially could turn into, I didn’t think we would ever see at Butler.”
Ethan Morton. Get used to that name, because you’ll likely be seeing it and hearing it plenty over the next few years.
Cleveland State has already offered a scholarship to Morton — and he’s only a freshman. Pitt and Penn State are showing interest (Pitt had Morton come to a football game). West Virginia has started to show interest and wants to see tape of Morton. A few others are starting to inquire about Morton.
Major colleges tend to take notice of 6-foot-5 freshman point guards with athletic ability. Especially ones who already have proven they can make a big impact as a ninth-grader.
Morton is averaging 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists a game for one of the better teams in WPIAL Class 6A. Butler is a team loaded with experience, 10 seniors to be in fact. But Morton was too good not to give him the keys to the car — or at least Clement’s gym.
Clement, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, has a gym next to his home in Butler. The key to the entrance is hidden, but he tells some Butler players the hiding place. Clement could charge Morton rent.
“He’s there all the time,” said Clement. “I’ll peak out my window in the summer, and there he is, working with dribbling goggles on, then heavy gloves. Then there’s an hour-and-a-half of shooting. That’s one of the things that makes him special is how hard he works. I think to get where I did in sports, I held my work ethic pretty high. I don’t know if Ethan’s is better, but it’s equal.”
Morton already has opened some eyes around the WPIAL. Morton had close to a triple double last week against Plum, and Plum coach Ron Richards said aftrerward, “The kid’s legit. I love everything about his game, including his demeanor on the floor. He just plays.”
Morton’s statistics are very comparable — and even better — than some other freshmen in the WPIAL who went on to bigger things after high school, like T.J. McConnell at Chartiers Valley or Micah Mason at Highlands.
Robby Carmody is a junior at Mars who has a number of scholarship offers from major colleges. Carmody averaged in double figures as a freshman also and played point guard.
“The thing about Ethan is that he’s a 6-5 point guard,” said Clement. “If he was playing the ‘3,’ then you might say, ‘Let’s wait and see.’ But the fact that he plays the point with that size is impressive.”
Morton got some notice on the AAU circuit this summer playing for the Ohio Basketball Club.
“He’s going to have his moments where he’s tripped up here and there,” said Clement. “The potential is huge, but he’s really grounded about the whole thing. I’m not protecting him that much because he can handle all this. It’s what he wanted. He’s not afraid of it, but he’s extremely humble also.”
Four schools already
Jeannette has a new player and he made quite an impact in his first game. Anthony Johnson is a sophomore forward who transferred from Allderdice to Jeannette last week. In his first game Tuesday night, Johnson scored 28 points.
Johnson has only been in high school for close to a year-and-a-half, but this is his fourth school. He started out at Chartiers Valley last year and played for the Colts in fall leagues before transferring to Lincoln Park. He played some for Lincoln Park but was gone before the season ended and eventually transferred to Allderdice. He left Allderdice recently, moved into the Jeannette district and now is playing for the Jayhawks.
Under PIAA rules, a student-athlete is granted presumptive eligibility when he moves into a school district with a parent/guardian and without any claims of transferring for athletic intent.
Betters gives scholarships
’Tis the season for holiday basketball tournaments, and one of the annual best is the C.J. Betters RBA Holiday Classic at the Community College of Beaver County Dome Dec. 29-30. And the title sponsor of the event is giving away $60,000 in scholarship money for this year’s event.
Eight boys teams and four girls teams will compete in the two-day tournament this year. Betters is giving one senior from each of the 12 teams a $5,000 college scholarship.
The event has some excellent matchups. Thursday, Highlands plays Lincoln Park at 5:30. Highlands is the Post-Gazette’s No. 1 Class 5A team and Lincoln Park No. 1 in 3A. On the second night, there is a potential matchup between Pine-Richland, No. 1 in 6A, and Beaver Falls, No. 3 in 4A.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published: December 23, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
