ROSS TWP— To say Butler's offense went to sleep wouldn't be accurate.

The Golden Tornado attack started the game asleep and never woke up during a 42-22 boys basketball defeat Tuesday night at North Hills.

The 22 points marked a season low and the lowest total in head coach Joe Lewandowski's six-year career as the loss plummeted Butler (9-7, 2-5) to the cellar in Section 3-AAAA.

"I think the kids came into this game mentally worn down,"Lewandowski said. "Maybe it was the toll of losing three straight close basketball games. ... I'm not sure what it was.

"Ido know this: Our kids are resilient and they'll bounce back from this."

Butler's offense never was in sync Tuesday. The Tornado grabbed a 2-0 lead on an Austin Snodgrass runner in the lane two minutes into the game, but didn't score again until 8 minutes and 30 seconds later, when North Hills (11-7, 3-5) had a 13-2 lead.

Butler missed nine shots from the field and turned the ball over five times during that stretch.

Senior center Mike Pratkanis missed his fourth straight game — all losses — with an ankle injury. Senior guard Clark Liebler is having knee surgery and is lost for the season.

North Hills, which snapped a three-game losing streak, suffered a 59-33 loss at Butler Dec. 11, a night when Pratkanis had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

"It's a different game when he's not in there,"Indians coach Buzz Gabos said. "We didn't have to double down in the post, so we could just come out and play everybody straight up.

"They're a good shooting team and we know that. We came out high on the perimeter and forced them to put the ball on the floor."

Lewandowski said his team is "usually fine with a half-court game, but tonight we had no answers."

The Tornado rallied to get within 19-14 as Cody Fleeger drained a 3-pointer seconds into the third quarter, only to see North Hills go on an 11-2 run for a 30-16 lead with 3:38 left in the period.

The Indians' Cody Patton, who led all scorers with 12 points, and Ryan Nauman sank 3-pointers during the surge. Butler never got the deficit out of double digits.

Neither team scored a field goal in the fourth quarter. Butler was 0-for-12 in the period and sank just eight of 40 shots in the game.

The Tornado got to the foul line only twice, with Jeff Slater and Logan Renwick canning all four shots.

North Hills attempted only two layups and sank eight of 11 free throws in the final eight minutes.

"(Dante)Anglin is a big kid in the post and he was distorting our shots just enough to make it tough to finish plays inside,"Lewandowski said.

North Hills had a 35-21 edge in rebounding. Nauman had eight boards, while Anglin and R.J. Miller had seven each. Fleeger and Nick Rossmiller had five rebounds each for Butler.

Despite its four-game skid, Butler is still only one game out of a playoff spot.

"We need to find a way against Shaler Friday night,"Lewandowski said. "To get to the playoffs, you have to split with teams. It's not too soon to look at tiebreakers."

BUTLER 22Jeff Slater 2-11 2-2 6, Cody Fleeger 3-9 0-0 8, Austin Snodgrass 1-3 0-0 2, Logan Renwick 0-2 2-2 2, Nick Rossmiller 1-5 0-0 2, Ryan Melder 0-1 0-0 0, Christos Klutinoty 1-6 0-0 2, Jeff Tompkins 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Powers 0-2 0-0 0, Brian Jendesky 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 8-40 4-4 22

NORTH HILLS 42Cody Patton 3-6 4-5 12, Jeff Mittereder 0-1 1-2 1, Greg Sencak 3-7 2-5 9, Ryan Nauman 1-7 2-2 5, R.J. Miller 3-6 0-0 6, Mark Schneider 1-2 0-0 2, Dante Anglin 2-5 3-4 7.

Totals: 13-34 12-18 42

Butler 2 9 9 2—22North Hills 11 8 15 8—423-point goals: Fleeger 2; Patton 2, Sencak, Nauman

JV: Butler, 53-31 (B:Logan Renwick 14, David Schmidt 9, NH:Scott Zubik 12, Joe Dice 10