BUTLER TWP - The play inside was so fierce that six players had four fouls each late in the game.

So how was the Butler-North Hills boys basketball game decided Friday night? On a brush foul by Golden Tornado guard Jerrod Markle well away from the basket with five seconds remaining.

Evan Sandherr, North Hills' 6-foot-3 senior guard, and one of the guys playing with four fouls, sank both ends of the one-and-one to give the Indians a 51-50 triumph.

The loss snapped a four-game Tornado winning streak.

"That call was not indicative of how this game was played," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said.

Butler (8-5, 3-3) increased its lead to 50-47 when Blake Anderson drained both ends of a one-and-one with 1:02 left. Caleb Dorman answered with a layup for North Hills, then the Indians stole the ball with 29 seconds to go.

"We had no set play call at that point," North Hills coach Joe Falletta said. "We were gonna spread the floor and see what opened up."

Nothing much did as time ticked down. Sandherr was dribbling the ball well behind the 3-point line and was heading toward the right side of the court when he and Markle brushed together.

Butler had a timeout remaining, but opted not to use it after Sandherr made the free throws.

"We wanted to catch them in transition, not let them set up their defense," Lewandowski said. "We knew they were out of timeouts."

The Tornado's final shot was a running jumper by Nate Hartung from inside the foul line that hit off the back of the rim.

"I'll take getting off an eight-footer in that situation," Lewandowski said.

"I wouldn't have called a timeout in that situation, either," Falletta said. "They're so quick and athletic. I was worried we weren't going to get back on defense, but we did.

"This was a great game played by great kids."

But it had a rough ending for Butler, which scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to open up a 35-23 lead. The Tornado had a 44-34 lead with 5:09 left in the game.

"It was a game of runs and they had the last one," Lewandowski said. "They made some big plays down the stretch to get back in it and we had a couple of defensive breakdowns that resulted in buckets for them."

Among North Hills' big plays down the stretch were a steal and layup by Sandherr, followed by a 3-pointer from Josh Trocchio that cut the Tornado lead to 46-45 with 2:30 left.

Nate and Noah Hartung and Blake Anderson played the final minutes with four fouls each. Jade Burka was on the bench with four fouls.

Sandherr and Caleb Dorman, who was North Hills' top scorer with 13 points, had four fouls for the Indians (10-4, 5-1).

Markle led Butler with 14 points and four assists. Nate Hartung added 13 points and seven rebounds. Noah Hartung also had seven of the Tornado's 29 rebounds.

Dorman had nine of North Hills' 26 boards. Sandherr contributed 12 points, Trocchio and C.J. Wink 10 each.

The Indians suffered only nine turnovers to Butler's 18. North Hills was held under 60 points for just the fourth time all season.

"We wanted this game to be in the 50s and we succeeded in that," Lewandowski said. "We got them to play our style and they still beat us. They've proven they're one of the top teams in the section."

NORTH HILLS 51

Evan Sandherr 2-9 8-10 12, Eric Gardner 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Trocchio 4-7 0-0 10, Brian Long 1-3 1-3 3, Zach Stotz 0-0 1-2 1, C.J. Wink 3-8 4-6 10, Caleb Dorman 5-14 3-4 13, Andrew Monahan 0-2 0-0 0, Dexter Bertram 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 16-49 17-24 51

BUTLER 50

Nate Hartung 6-9 1-5 13, Noah Hartung 1-5 4-4 6, Jerrod Markle 5-8 2-2 14, Adam Monday 2-3 0-0 5, Blake Anderson 2-6 2-2 8, Sean Lowry 0-1 0-0 0, Jade Burka 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 18-35 9-13 50

3-point goals:

Trocchio 2; Markle 2, Monday, Anderson 2

JV:

North Hills, 53-43 (NH-Ryan Monahan 15, B-Sean Lowry 10)

Saturday:

Butler @ Plum