Boys’ Sweet 16: Evangel Christian locks down Butler County star, grinds out first-round win
Evangel Christian’s 71-60 victory over Butler County in the first round of the 2024 UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 on Thursday afternoon was a much slower-paced game than Eagles’ head coach Larry Miller thought it would be.
“If we play fast all the time we’d be a lot better team,” Miller said. “And I would have never guessed that it would be the type of game. It was a real physical, ‘grind it out’ type game. It seemed like neither team ever got into flow. And I think our defense was pretty good, and I thought their defense was really good, also. I thought it would be a 88-85 game. So it shocked me.”
Neither team is a stranger to high-scoring games, so the key to victory was locking in on defense. Enter senior guard Isaiah Chitapa, the Eagles’ lead defender. Chitapa’s first-round responsibility was containing Butler County junior guard Ty Price, who averaged a team-leading 29.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game — against the Eagles on Thursday, Price finished with 12 points and three rebounds in 30 minutes on the floor.
“Isaiah just did a tremendous job on Ty Price, who’s a great player,” Miller said. “And he’s done it every game all year, any time we play a great player he’s been able to shut him down. So that was a big key for us tonight.”
Chitapa himself finished with 10 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes, surpassing his typical 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Chitapa doesn’t consider himself as looming an offensive threat as some of his teammates, so he said he had to earn his roster spot through defensive grit.
“Honestly, I’ve never really been the offensive guy,” Chitapa said. “For me to earn my spot on the team I had to play defense. So I just locked in on defense, that’s my way of getting on the floor.”
Price commended Evangel Christian’s defensive effort in stopping him.
“I would just say they was helping on every drive,” Price said. “Just trying to get the ball out of my hands on every drive. Obviously, they got some length, but I mean, we’ve been playing against that all year, so. They was just really impactful on defense and trying to get it out of my hands.”
Price was joined in double figures by Lawson Rice (19 points) and Justin Castlen (16).
Rice, who also contributed six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal said the biggest problem for Butler County (23-9) was a slow start.
“Can’t come out slow,” Rice said. “We came out slow in the first half and then we got behind and could never really come out and make shots and get on a run. Just kind of slowly stayed behind the whole game. So, we got to come out hotter.”
Evangel Christian (30-6) shot 50% from the field and led for more than 28 of the game’s 32 minutes, contributing sporadic bursts of scoring to keep the Bears at bay. Even when Butler County pulled within one point of Evangel Christian late in the third quarter, the Eagles answered with a quick seven-point swing. Chitapa said the Eagles’ attitude is simple: react the right way.
“’Next play,’ I think that’s the best attitude that we can have,” Chitapa said. “I mean you’re gonna fight adversity, but it’s how you’re going to react.”
Evangel Christian senior guard Christian Doerr led the Eagles in scoring with 21 points. He added three rebounds, five assists and five steals. Freshman Davier White finished with 18 points, six rebounds and one steal.
Evangel Christian advanced to face the winner of Louisville Trinity and Pulaski County in a Friday night quarterfinal.
