BUTLER TWP - It's easy tell it's nearly WPIAL playoff time. New Castle is serious about its basketball.

The Red Hurricane (19-5, 10-4) jumped out to an 18-2 lead in the first seven minutes Friday night and rolled to a 66-51 boys basketball win over Butler.

"They came out like a team primed to make a playoff run," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "They deserve all the credit in the world for that. They jumped on us."

New Castle took a 33-12 lead into halftime, which was quite a contrast to its 41-33 win over the Golden Tornado last month in New Castle.

"We wanted to push things a lot more right off the bat," New Castle coach John Sarandrea said. "That was part of our plan. We pressured the ball a lot more than last time."

The Tornado (10-13, 5-9) crept to within 12 points with 31 seconds left in the third quarter as Adam Monday drained his third 3-points from off the bench and Jade Burka sank a pair of free throws, trimming the gap to 44-32.

But David Richards knocked down a trey for the Hurricane with 13 seconds left and Chris Harvey stole the ball near mid-court and hit a jumper just before the buzzer.

"That flurry was a key because it got back momentum for them going into the last quarter," Lewandowski said.

New Castle took a 49-32 lead into the final quarter, but Butler challenged again. Blake Anderson drove to the hoop for three layups in the final eight minutes, the third cutting the deficit to 56-47 with 1:54 to play.

Anderson got to the basket again moments later, but couldn't get a contested layup to go down.

Two free throws each by Thomas Canal and Anthony Harvey widened New Castle's lead to 60-49 with a minute to play and sealed the win.

The Hurricane sank 13 of 17 free throws in the final quarter.

"Our foul shooting kept them an arm's length from us," Sarandrea said. "It's a good thing we made free throws because nothing else was working for us. They out-rebounded us 16-3 in the second half."

Demetrius Searcy had 17 points and six rebounds to pace New Castle. Richards added 15 points, including four treys.

Butler had 20 turnovers to New Castle's 11, but the Tornado enjoyed a 31-17 rebounding edge.

"Our kids played hard. It's the only way they know how to play," Lewandowski said.

Anderson paced the Tornado with 11 points. Noah Hartung added 10 points and 11 rebounds, Burka eight points and eight boards.

While New Castle is taking a six-game winning streak into the playoffs, Butler lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

Butler seniors Nate Hartung, Jerrod Markle and Matt Shockey were honored before the game. Shockey made his first varsity start of the season.

NEW CASTLE 66

Thomas Canal 1-3 6-8 9, David Richards 5-8 1-3 15, Chris Harvey 1-2 1-2 3, Tony Andrews 1-2 0-0 2, Demetrius Searcy 8-14 1-1 17, Anthony Harvey 1-3 7-10 9, Hakeem Fitzpatrick 4-6 2-2 11. Totals: 21-38 18-27 66

BUTLER 51

Nate Hartung 4-5 1-2 9, Noah Hartung 5-8 0-2 10, Jerrod Markle 2-8 0-0 4, Adam Monday 3-9 0-0 9, Alan Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Blake Anderson 5-9 0-1 11, Sean Lowry 0-1 0-0 0, Jade Burka 2-3 4-4 8, Matt Shockey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-44 5-9 51

3-point goals:

Canal, Richards 4, Fitzpatrick; Monday 3, Anderson

JV:

New Castle, 57-47 (B-Lowry 25, NC-Mike Colella 15)

Monday:

Mars @ Butler

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