BRIDGEVILLE - Mt. Lebanon has its eye on the WPIAL championship. Saturday night, it showed why.

Geoff Kestler scored 25 points and a suffocating defense forced 23 turnovers as the Blue Devils cruised past Butler, 57-36, in a boys basketball game at Chartiers Valley High School.

The game was part of the Section 3-4 Challenge, which pitted all eight Section 3-AAAA teams against an opponent from Section 4-AAAA.

"They are as good as any team we've played this year and better than most," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said of Mt. Lebanon.

The Blue Devils (17-4) never trailed and broke the game open in the third quarter.

Leading 27-19 at halftime, Mt. Lebanon applied more pressure on Butler's guards and did not allow the Golden Tornado (10-11) to get the ball inside.

Nate Hartung's stick-back of an offensive rebound was Butler's lone field goal inside in the third quarter. The Blue Devils owned a decisive 18-9 scoring edge in that period.

"Butler provided match-up problems for us down low - they do that to pretty much everybody," Mt. Lebanon coach Joey David said. "We had to keep them from getting the ball in there."

"Their guards are so quick and athletic," Lewandowski said. "By turning things helter-skelter, they prevented us from running any of our sets.

"We knew that adjustment was coming. We just couldn't do much about it."

Mt. Lebanon led by as many as 22 - 55-33 - with 1:11 left in the game.

Kestler leads all of WPIAL Quad-A with a scoring average of 23 points per game. The 6-foot-3 senior guard is among the top five on the Blue Devils' career scoring list with 1,100 points.

"He's a three-year starter for us and such a smooth player," David said. "He does a lot of things well."

So does third-year starting point guard Brett Stokar, who contributed seven points, seven assists and three steals. He is expected to break Mt. Lebanon's career assists record this season.

Kestler and Brandon Babe both had five of 26 Mt. Lebanon rebounds. Babe scored eight points, including two 3-pointers.

"I think we have as good a chance as anybody of winning the WPIAL," David said. "We have a well-rounded, veteran team."

Mt. Lebanon's four losses - to Shaler, North Allegheny, Chartiers Valley and Section 4 leader Upper St. Clair - were all decided in the final minute.

"They were intense, competitive games," David said. "They were probably like taking cod liver oil. It tasted bad going down, but we'll benefit from it later."

Noah Hartung scored 11 points and Nate Hartung 10 for the Golden Tornado, who were held to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. Butler scored 33 points in a loss at New Castle.

The 36 points marked the fewest allowed by Mt. Lebanon in a game this year.

Jade Burka had eight of 25 rebounds for Butler, which now must win its final three games to secure its first winning season since 1999-2000.

"Nobody plays harder than our guards," Lewandowski said. "Even down by 15, we were on the floor getting after loose balls.

"Their guards were just better athletically."

Despite Butler's loss, Section 3 won the challenge, five games to three.

Seneca Valley defeated Trinity 75-69, Shaler defeated Chartiers Valley 73-58, New Castle stopped Ringgold 68-44, North Allegheny downed Canon McMillan 59-52 and Pine-Richland defeated Peters Township 64-53.

Section 4's other two wins were Upper St. Clair over Fox Chapel, 88-46, and Bethel Park's 62-56 triumph over North Hills.

BUTLER 36

Nate Hartung 4-8 2-4 10, Noah Hartung 3-7 4-8 11, Jerrod Markle 1-5 0-0 3, Adam Monday 0-5 0-0 0, Blake Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Alan Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Sean Lowry 0-0 0-0 0, Jade Burka 2-2 1-2 5, Herb Klann 1-1 0-0 3, Matt Celestin 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Shockey 0-0 0-0 0, Corey Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Anthony 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-34 7-13 36

MT. LEBANON 57

Geoff Kestler 9-17 6-6 25, Adam Potter 0-1 2-2 2, Brett Stokar 1-3 4-4 7, Evan Stokar 1-1 0-2 2, Andrew Devlin 1-7 0-3 2, Nate Gannon 1-2 0-0 2, Brandon Babe 3-6 0-0 8, James Marasti 1-2 0-0 3, Eric Spada 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Matthews 2-6 2-2 6, Ryan Lang 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 19-46 14-19 57

3-point goals:

Noah Hartung, Markle, Klann; Kestler, B.Stokar, Babe 2, Marasti

Tuesday:

Butler @ North Hills