SHALER TWP — Butler needed a win Tuesday night — and played like it.

The Golden Tornado never trailed, built a nine-point lead in the first quarter and exploded at the beginning of the third period for a 69-51 Section 1-6A boys basketball win at Shaler.

“I liked the way we came out and took control,” Butler coach Matt Clement said.

Tyler Frederick and Joel Stutz were ringleaders in that regard.

Stutz drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter and led the Tornado (10-6, 4-4) with 18 points. Frederick tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals — and three thunderous dunks.

Two of those dunks followed Frederick steals near mid-court that resulted in open, uncontested lanes to the basket.

“Those are definitely energizing plays,” Frederick said. “They fired me up and I think they fired everybody up.

“We needed to come down here and play well, get a win and build some momentum for Friday night.”

Butler hosts section leader Pine-Richland Friday, looking to avenge a last-second one-point loss at P-R earlier this month.

The impact of Frederick’s dunks were not lost on Clement.

“In high school basketball, maybe you see plays like that once a month, once a week ... to get three dunks in one game by the same guy is rare,” he said.

“This is the time of year where your seniors need to step up and lead the way. Joel’s been doing it all year. Jace (Stutz) scored our first three points tonight and had a solid game.

“This may be the beginning of a big finishing stretch for Tyler. I’ve seen it happen with seniors here before — Bobby Swartwout, Kaden Rock, Dom Pusateri, of course, Nate Snodgrass — hopefully it’s Tyler’s time,” Clement added.

Frederick was limited to six points and five rebounds in Butler’s home win against Shaler earlier this season.

“I was surprised with the way they attacked me that night,” Frederick recalled. “Tonight I made it a point to get rid of the ball quickly and move into open spaces more.”

Butler moved the ball quickly in general.

“They made the extra pass tonight and executed well,” Shaler coach Rob Niederberger said of Butler. “And Tyler is a monster. He’s a good player.

“We got lost on defense at times. Our communication wasn’t there and their execution was.”

Butler led 31-19 at the half and put the game away in the first three minutes of the third quarter. A 15-4 run gave the Tornado a 46-23 lead with 5:08 left in the period.

Butler’s lead peaked at 57-28 early in the fourth period.

“Those first three minutes (of the third period) decided the game. They came out smoking,” Niederberger said.

Jace Stutz had eight points and five rebounds for Butler while Ethan Morton had six points, six assists and five rebounds. Butler had a 33-26 edge in rebounding and had only four turnovers in the first three quarters.

Tanner Reinheimer paced Shaler with 29 points and four steals. He scored 16 of those in the fourth period and reached 1,000 points in his career.

“For the most part, Jason Gray did a great job on him defensively. But the kid never quits,” Clement said.

Shaler (3-13, 0-8) lost for the sixth time in seven games.

“When you’re trying to turn around a program, you need leaders like Tanner who aren’t going to quit no matter what,” Niederberger said.

Butler now turns its attention to Pine-Richland.

“We know what happened down there, but we have to treat this as a home section game and find a way to win it,” Clement said. “Pine-Richland is a great team with very good players and they will come in ready to play.

“We have to be prepared to match that, go out and get a win.”

BUTLER 69

Luke Michalek 2-4 0-1 4, Andrew Yonker 0-1 1-2 1, Jace Stutz 2-3 1-2 5, Ian MCCarrier 3-5 0-0 8, Jason Gray 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Frederick 7-8 2-2 16, Connor Ollio 1-3 2-2 4, Ethan Morton 2-6 2-2 6, Cade Negley 1-1 0-0 3, Joel Stutz 7-15 0-0 18, Jefferson Ford 0-1 0-0 0, Philip Vandergrift 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Stazer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 27-52 8-11 69.

SHALER 51

Mekhi Reynolds 0-3 0-0 0, Kevin McHale 0-6 0-0 0, Kevin Haberman 0-3 0-0 0, Anthony Venezia 2-9 1-1 5, Kiki Agbale 2-2 3-4 7, Matt Tavella 3-4 2-2 10, Tanner Reinheimer 9-14 7-9 29, Luke Grunden 0-0 0-0 90, Jesse Tavella 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 16-44 13-16 51.

Butler 18 13 24 14 — 69

Shaler9 10 9 23 — 51

3-point goals: McCarrier 2, Negley, Jo.Stutz 4; M.Tavella 2, Reinheimer 4

JV: Shaler, 60-58 (B: Nick Stazer 14, Pat McLachlin 14; S: Matt Tavella 26, Mekhi Reynolds 17)

Friday: Pine-Richland at Butler