BUTLER TWP - The win was coming too easily. And Joe Lewandowski knew it.

Butler's boys basketball coach watched his team build a 42-24 lead on Burrell with 7:28 remaining in their first-round Butler Christmas Tournament game Tuesday night.

"They were too good a team," Lewandowski said. "They weren't unbeaten in their section last year for no reason. They weren't going to let us run away from them."

The Bucs (5-5) promptly went on a 15-2 run to pull to within 44-39 with 2:58 left. But Burrell could get no closer in dropping a 51-45 decision to the Golden Tornado.

Butler (6-4) will play Aliquippa - an 87-35 winner over Fox Chapel - at 7:45 p.m. today.

"I was pleased with the way we never quit and we kept playing hard," Burrell coach Ron McNabb said. "Then again, that's the way it's supposed to be."

After Zack Ziemanski's jumper pulled the Bucs to within 48-43, Burrell called timeout with 1:22 to go. But Butler's Jade Burka responded with a free throw and a layup for the Tornado, hiking the lead to 51-43 with 17 seconds left to ice the win.

Burka had nine points, six rebounds and six blocked shots. Noah Hartung added eight rebounds and 10 assists for the Tornado (6-4).

Jerrod Markle paced Butler with 15 points and Nate Hartung added 13.

"Nate has so many moves inside and he dishes the ball back outside extremely well," Lewandowski said.

Burka and the Hartung brothers presented major matchup problems for Burrell.

"We don't play anybody with that kind of beef inside," McNabb said. "We tried drawing Nate away from the basket when we had the ball, but he's deceptive for such a big guy. He moves very well."

Tyler Henderson had 14 points and eight rebounds for Burrell, with Grazier adding 14 points. Grazier averages 20 points per game, but had only five through three quarters.

"We knew they could shoot the ball and didn't want them to get into a groove," Lewandowski said.

Butler had a 24-23 edge in rebounds and had 16 turnovers to the Bucs' 11.

Aliquippa 87, Fox Chapel 35 -

The Quips (7-3) rolled to their sixth straight win by jumping out to a 26-2 lead in the first six minutes.

The lead peaked at 87-31 with 2:52 remaining and the mercy clock ran in the second half.

D'Von Jeter paced Aliquippa with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. Tommie Campbell added 14 points and seven rebounds while 6-foot-10 sophomore Herbert Pope had 13 points and 11 boards.

Aliquippa had a 54-21 edge in rebounds and forced 26 turnovers. Fox Chapel (4-7) sank just nine of 47 shots from the floor.

John Hastings paced the Foxes with 10 points.

Notes:

The four finalists for tonight's 3-point shooting contest are Aliquippa's Jeter, Fox Chapel's Adam Elmagoabu, Butler's Blake Anderson and Burrell's Grazier. Anderson drained seven consecutive treys during the contest's first round Tuesday. The finals will take place at halftime of the Butler-Aliquippa game.

FOX CHAPEL 35

Kevin Martincek 0-2 0-0 0, John Hastings 4-6 1-2 10, Mike Murray 0-2 0-0, Doug Robertson 0-4 0-0 0, Tiph Harner 2-5 3-4 7, Adam Elmagoabu 1-12 3-4 5, Rob Tenenini 0-3 3-4 3, Seth Eisner 1-8 0-0 2, Ahmed Elmagoabu 1-5 5-8 7, Nithin Reddy 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 9-47 16-24 35

ALIQUIPPA 87

Brandon Revis 0-0 0-0 0, D'Von Jeter 8-12 0-2 21, Herbert Pope 4-9 5-9 13, Charles Alford 1-1 2-2 4, Chazzmon Kenney 0-1 0-0 0, Sjavante Gilliam 3-7 1-2 7, James Sums 0-4 0-0 0, Brandon Lindsey 4-6 1-4 9, Dontae Rawlins 3-4 1-2 9, Tommie Campbell 7-10 0-1 14, Brandon Simmons 0-0 1-2 1, Jonathan Baldwin 4-8 1-4 9. Totals: 34-62 12-27 87

3-point goals:

Hastings; Jeter 5, Rawlins 2

BURRELL 45

Zack Ziemanski 3-5 0-0 7, Marty Bertolino 1-3 1-2 3, Tyler Henderson 7-11 0-0 14, Dylan Grazier 6-12 0-0 14, Bob Johnson 3-12 1-2 7, Tyler Reifschneider 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Dan Mangini 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-44 2-4 45

BUTLER 51

Nate Hartung 6-10 1-1 13, Noah Hartung 2-8 0-0 4, Jerrod Markle 6-11 0-0 15, Adam Monday 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Anderson 4-7 0-0 10, Jade Burka 4-7 1-4 9. Totals: 22-43 2-5 51

3-point goals:

Ziemanski, Grazier 2; Markle 2, Anderson

JV:

Butler, 37-26

Today:

Fox Chapel vs. Burrell, 4:15 p.m.; Aliquippa vs. Butler, 7:45 p.m.