BUTLER TWP — Simply put, Seneca Valley jumped on a wave and rode it.

The Raiders sank 26 of 34 shots from the field — including 8 of 8 in the first quarter with three treys — and 14 of 15 from the free throw line in surprising Butler, 72-65, in Section 1-6A boys basketball Friday night.

“We shot the lights out,” SV senior forward Mark Smathers said.

Seneca Valley (7-7, 2-4) stayed in the WPIAL playoff chase with the win.

“One hundred percent, we needed this,” SV coach Victor Giannotta said. “We told the boys beforehand, we have to win.

“The quick start was the key for us. The longer we hung in, the more confident we were. We couldn't afford to fall behind by six or eight points. It would have gotten away from us.”

But that never happened. Butler's last — and biggest lead — was at 22-20 with 6:35 left in the first half.

The game was tied seven times in the first half, the last at 24 with 5:34 left, before the Raiders went on a 9-1 run to secure the lead they never lost.

“Our ball movement was good and we finished,” Giannotta said.

Besides consistently getting to the basket, the Raiders sank six of 10 shots from 3-point land in knocking off the Golden Tornado (9-5, 3-3).

“I have way too much respect for this section and for Seneca Valley to say they didn't play well. They played very well,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “They came up here ready to play and we weren't.

“But any coach whose team gives up shooting numbers like that is gonna say we didn't play good defense. Our defensive effort tonight wasn't good enough to win any games in this section.”

Smathers scored 10 of his 23 points during SV's second-quarter surge. Butler fell behind 39-29 with 6:01 left in the third quarter, prompting a Clement time-out.

The Golden Tornado responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a Jason Gray trey with 3:52 left in the quarter to cut the gap to 41-39.

Smathers responded with a pair of layups to thwart the rally.

Butler would rally one more time. Tyler Frederick stuck back a pair of offensive rebounds and Connor Ollio canned a layup to trim a 57-47 deficit to 57-53 with 4:40 to play. A Chris Hart trey held off that threat.

“When we had to hit a shot, we did,” Hart said. “We were able to get to the rim a lot by finding the open guy. Their press was full-court run and jump.

“When a team does that, someone has to be open. We just worked the ball up the floor.”

A Frederick trey pulled the Tornado within 62-58 with 2:31 to play. Again, SV responded. Marcus Might canned a layup and Hart added a pair of free throws to finally seal the deal, giving the Raiders a 66-58 lead with 1:30 remaining.

“They didn't really do anything different against us defensively .... a 2-3 zone and some man,” Clement said. “But a team comes in here struggling to score and we gave up this many points?

“That's a recipe for disaster and disaster happened.”

Hart had 21 points and seven assists for the Raiders. Payton Skalos had 10 points and four assists, Might seven points and five assists, Patrick Uher four assists and four steals.

Seneca Valley's 72 points marked a season-high. The Raiders entered the game averaging 53 per contest.

“This is the way we can play,” Giannotta said.

“Hopefully, we'll get on a roll now,” Smathers said. “We have to keep winning.”

Ethan Morton paced Butler with 23 points and six assists. He scored 11 points in the third quarter to keep his team in the game. Frederick had 14 points and six rebounds, Joel Stutz 12 points and three steals.

SENECA VALLEY 72Nate Trzeciak 1-2 0-0 3, Payton Skalos 2-2 4-4 10, Patrick Uher 3-4 0-2 6, Justin Koken 1-2 0-0 2, Marcus Might 3-3 1-1 7, Mark Smathers 10-12 3-4 23, Chris Hart 66-9 6-6 21. Totals: 26-34 14-15 72.BUTLER 65Luke Michalek 1-1 0-0 2, Jace Stutz 1-3 0-1 3, Ian McCarrier 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Gray 1-4 0-0 3, Tyler Frederick 5-6 3-4 14, Connor Ollio 4-4 0-0 8, Ethan Morton 7-15 8-10 23, Joel Stutz 2-2 6-6 12. Totals: 21-35 17-21 65.Seneca Valley 20 15 15 22 — 72Butler18 11 14 22 — 653-point goals: Trzeciak, Skalos 2, Hart 3; Ja.Stutz, Gray, Frederick, Morton, Jo.Stutz 2JV: Seneca Valley, 50-39 (SV: Zac Zajacs 11, Jacob Bunofsky 9; B: Tarick Taoufik 16)Friday: Seneca Valley at Central Catholic, North Hills at Butler