BUTLER TWP — Jade Burka saved his best for last — and for the beginning.

The 6-foot-5 senior center staked the Butler boys basketball team to a big lead early with 10 points in the first quarter and closed the door on Burrell with eight points and several big defensive stops in the fourth period.

That helped the Golden Tornado (5-6) survive a scare from the Buccaneers (5-6) in a 46-44 win at the Butler Christmas Tournament Tuesday night.

"In the fourth quarter we were down by (five) points and we decided we are going to be deliberate and get the ball inside," said Butler coach Joe Lewandowski.

That meant a heaping helping of Burka, who did his best to deliver.

Burka also had 13 rebounds in the contest.

"He hurt us," said Burrell coach Tom Myers. "That's why we went to some zone. The problem was, he kicked it out and they started hitting some 3s on us."

Blake Anderson hit three big 3-pointers in the second quarter to help Butler build a 23-11 lead with 3:40 remaining in the half.

But that's when Burrell began its comeback, going on a 7-2 run to end the half with a seven-point deficit.

The Buccaneers' hot play continued in the second half as Burrell pulled even with Butler by the end of the third quarter and led by as many as five points with 4:46 remaining in the game.

"They did a good job," Lewandowski said of Burrell. "They stayed with it, stayed with it. They got some penetration and were able to drop it off for some easy baskets. That got them back into the game."

Burrell took a page out of Butler's book with its comeback, feeding the ball inside to Aaron Brown, who scored eight of his nine points in the third quarter.

But Burrell was unable to hold Butler off, to the great displeasure of Myers.

"We had a five-point lead with four minutes left and our guards didn't do what they needed to do," Myers fumed. "They turned the ball over. We didn't take care of the ball."

Burka put Butler up for good with 1:30 remaining with the last of his 10 baskets. He finished with 20 points.

Burrell had a chance to win and tie on its final possession, but a 3-point attempt by Jacob Sharick missed the mark and a fadeaway jumper off the offensive rebound by Joe Marzullo also missed the mark as time expired.

After the buzzer sounded, there was a huge sigh of relief from the Butler bench.

"The kids are resilient," Lewandowski said. "They are playing very hard and starting to play together. We had different guys coming in and contributing."

One of those guys was Aaron Dorondo. He didn't score a point — he didn't even take a shot — but he stifled Burrell's post game down the stretch with a solid defensive effort.

"He's a great spark off the bench for us," Lewandowski said.

Anderson added nine points and six assists for Butler, which is finally back in the win column after a brutal stretch of section games against Pine-Richland, North Allegheny and Fox Chapel in which the Tornado went 0-3 and lost by an average margin of 20 points.

"We played really good teams, which is going to make us better," Lewandowski said. "When you lose section games, it's really tough, but the key is you have to learn from the losses and see where you can get better."

Butler will face Penn Hills in the championship game at 7:45 tonight. Penn Hills edged Chartiers Valley 70-64 in the first game of the night.

But now, at least, the Tornado will enter it with a chance to start a winning streak.

"Any win is a good win, but it's good to get a win in a Christmas tournament," Lewandowski said. "Guys take a lot of pride in it."

BURRELL 44

Aaron Brown 4-7 1-2 9, Tyler Henderson 2-3 0-0 4, Joe Marzullo 3-9 2-5 9, Seth Napierkowski 1 1-2 3, Tyler Reifschneider 3-5 1-2 7, Jacob Sharick 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Ziemianski 5-10 2-2 12. Totals: 18-36 7-13 44

BUTLER 46

Blake Anderson 3-8 0-1 9, Jade Burka 10-14 0-2 20, Aaron Dorondo 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Fleeger 0-1 0-0 0, Alan Jackson 4-6 0-0 8, Nick Martini 2-3 0-0 5, Noah Hartung 1-4 1-2 4. Totals: 20-36 1-5 46

3-point goals:

Marzullo, Anderson 3, Hartung, Martini

Tonight:

Penn Hills vs. Butler, 7:45