BUTLER TWP — Matt Clement had the numbers, so he played them.

And he won.

Butler used its deep bench to pressure Shaler early and often Tuesday night, forcing turnovers and limiting Titan field goal attempts in posting a 54-46 Section 3-AAAA boys basketball victory.

“The last time we played them, I noticed we were getting a lot of three and four-counts on their inbounding,” the Golden Tornado coach said. “Tonight, we wanted to make it difficult for them to inbound the ball from the start.

“Our bench goes a lot deeper than theirs, so we took advantage of that and stayed fresh. We played 10 kids in the first quarter.”

The game was not as close as the final score indicates. Butler had a 54-38 lead with 48 seconds left before Shaler went on a game-ending 8-0 run against the end of the Tornado bench.

“Some of those guys ... Luke Michalek, Jefferson Ford ... were getting their first varsity minutes,” Clement said. “It was important to get them in there.”

Butler (11-5, 4-4) took a 17-4 lead in the first 10 minutes and limited Shaler (6-10, 2-6) to 14 points in the first half. The Titans managed only five field goal attempts in the second quarter.

Midway through the third quarter, the Tornado had 13 field goals and the Titans only 15 shots.

The Tornado lead peaked at 17 on numerous occasions in the second half.

“Butler is known for its defense and you know they're going to guard you a certain way,” Shaler coach Brian Bibey said. “They're going to be aggressive and you answer that by being strong with the ball, crisp with your cuts, precise with your passes.

“It's a simple formula, really. But you have to execute and at times we didn't. But Butler had a lot to do with that.”

Despite its late run, Shaler was held to its lowest point total since a 59-36 season-opening loss at Plum.

“Still, we played hard for 32 minutes and I'm proud of that,” Bibey said. “It's tough to come back against any team in this section when you fall behind by double-digits early.”

Mark Gross had seven assists and five rebounds for Butler, Keenan Krause five assists and three steals. Shaler had 17 turnovers in the game.

“We wanted to jump out to a big lead early and it worked out,” Krause said. “We felt we could wear them down and by the third and fourth quarter, you could see it.

“The press works when everybody knows when to rotate and jump up. We made good decisions with it tonight.”

Clement pointed to the pressing efforts of Krause, Andrew Paterno, Joel and Jace Stutz, Kaden Rock and Justice Lewandowski for the defensive success.

“Those guys extended the pressure 90 feet and it made it tough for them to work the ball,” he said.

Paterno and Tyler Frederick paced a balanced Butler attack with 10 points each. Lewandowski had eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jake Anderson scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter.

Rob Reinheimer came off the bench to score 15 points for Shaler.

Brendan Deasy scored 10 points while Nick Fugh and Brennan Kellior had seven rebounds each.

“We needed to win this one ... and we played like it,” Krause said.

SHALER 46

Nick Fugh 2-6 1-2 5, Rob Reinheimer 6-9 2-3 15, E.J. Posa 3-6 2-4 9, Brendan Deasy 4-10 1-2 9, Brennan Keillor 1-4 1-1 3, Nate Grande 2-2 0-0 4, Devin O'Neill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-37 7-12 46.

BUTLER 54

Damien Pickett 0-0 0-0 0, Kelley Kuharic 0-0 0-0 0, Kaden Rock 1-3 0-0 3, Justice Lewandowski 3-8 0-0 8, Keenan Krause 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew Paterno 4-9 0-0 10, Tyler Frederick 5-6 0-0 10, Jake Anderson 4-4 0-0 8, Joel Stutz 1-4 0-0 2, Eric Hindman 0-0 0-0 0, Mark Gross 3-5 0-0 7, Connor Ollio 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 23-44 1-4 54.

Shaler 4 10 11 21 — 46

Butler11 14 14 15 — 54

3-point goals: Reinheimer, Posa, Deasy; Rock, Ja.Stutz, Lewandowski 2, Paterno 2, Gross

JV: Butler, 41-30 (S: Brennan Keillor 12, B: Kaden Rock 13)

Friday: Butler at Pine-Richland