SHALER TWP - Butler's big men controlled Shaler when the two teams met on the Golden Tornado's floor a month ago.

Not this time.

Nate Hartung and Jade Burka fouled out early in the fourth quarter and Shaler never trailed while cruising to a 67-48 boys basketball victory Tuesday night.

The win was Shaler's ninth in a row. The Titans (16-2, 9-2) haven't lost since dropping a 57-47 decision at Butler Dec. 23.

"Teams tend to be more confident and assertive when they're playing at home," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski. "That's the way Shaler played tonight."

Rich Miller, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, scored Shaler's first seven points as the Titans jumped to a 7-1 lead in the first three minutes. Miller scored all 10 of his points in the first quarter.

Butler (9-10, 4-7) pulled to within 15-14 late in the first period as Adam Monday sank three 3-pointers in less than two minutes.

Shaler turned the ball over only once in the first half, however, and had a 36-23 lead by halftime. The Tornado never cut the deficit to single digits in the second half and the Titans' lead peaked at 20.

"We let them control the physicality of play up at their place," Shaler coach Howie Ruppert said of Butler. "Tonight, we did. We were more aggressive offensively and just let the officials call the game."

Stu Anglum had 19 points and seven rebounds while Nick Sefscik had 11 points and nine assists for the Titans.

Sefscik averages 18 points per game and Anglum 17.

"We need those two kids to play well to be successful," Ruppert said. "Both had very good games."

"Sefscik's the guy who makes them go," Lewandowski said. "We limited his scoring, but he dished off well. He's a complete player."

Shaler had four players in double digits as Craig Devinney added 11 points.

Jerrod Markle paced Butler with 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Monday added 11 and Hartung had nine points and eight rebounds.

Hartung fouled out with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter. Burka followed at the 6:43 mark. Noah Hartung played much of the fourth quarter with four fouls.

The Tornado were held to just six points in the second quarter after trailing 21-17 through the first period.

"We had to slow the pace down and we did that, but offensive fouls and a couple of missed shots hurt us," Lewandowski said. "We limited possessions (in the second quarter), but had too many empty possessions."

Shaler had a 30-23 rebounding edge and had 10 turnovers to Butler's 15.

Ruppert admitted his team was motivated to avenge its December loss at Butler.

"Our two losses are preventing us from getting respect around Pittsburgh," he said. "We're a pretty good basketball team, but people look at those losses and figure, 'They lost to Butler, they lost to New Castle, they can't be all that good.'"

While Shaler leads Section 3-AAAA, Butler's WPIAL playoff hopes are nearly gone. The Tornado are three games out of the section's final playoff berth with three section games remaining.

"I think we have the best kids in the section," Lewandowski said. "I mean, these are great kids. We'll keep playing hard and we'll try to win the rest of our games."

BUTLER 48

Nate Hartung 4-9 1-2 9, Noah Hartung 2-5 4-4 8, Nick Martini 1-4 0-0 3, Jerrod Markle 4-9 1-2 12, Adam Monday 3-6 2-4 11, Sean Lowry 0-3 0-0 0, Jade Burka 1-1 0-0 2, Alan Jackson 1-3 1-3 3, Blake Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Herb Klann 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-42 9-15 48

SHALER 67

Matt Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Ed Sauer 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Davis 2-4 1-2 5, Nick Sefscik 3-8 5-9 11, Jim Kohan 0-0 0-0 0, Stu Anglum 8-12 2-5 19, Kevin Hathaway 1-1 2-2 4, Craig Devinney 5-8 0-0 11, Derek McQuade 0-1 3-4 3, Brett Witkowski 1-4 2-2 4, Rich Miller 4-5 0-0 10. Totals: 24-43 15-24 67

3-point goals:

Martini, Markle 3, Monday 3; Anglum, Devinney, Miller 2

JV:

Shaler, 48-32 (S-Kevin Hathaway 13, B-Brian Deangelis 6)

Friday:

Seneca Valley @ Butler

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