SHALER TWP — If you didn't believe in the Butler boys basketball team before, perhaps it's time to reconsider.

The Golden Tornado cleaned up a turnover mess at halftime, outrebounded Shaler 31-15 and outscored the Titans 15-4 down the stretch in a 60-51 road section win Tuesday night.

The victory marked Butler's fifth straight to begin the season. The Tornado won seven games all of last year.

"I'm so proud of these boys," Butler coach Matt Clement said. "This all started June 25 when I got this job. These kids have worked their tails off ever since to get to this point.

"This isn't about me at all. This is about them. I wish I could be named Jim Smith and hide in the stands. All I want to do is see these kids be successful."

So far, so good.

The lead changed hands and the score was tied on five occasions. The Titans (2-3, 0-2) knotted the contest at 45 when Jake Sieber canned his third 3-pointer with 4:45 remaining in the game.

That's when Butler (5-0, 2-0) took control.

Brian Jendesky missed a pair of free throws with 4:23 left, but Jeff Tompkins produced the offensive rebound and stickback that gave the Tornado the lead they never lost.

Tompkins had 10 points and 11 boards. Bobby Swartwout had 10 points and 10 caroms.

"We knew rebounding was going to be critical tonight," Tompkins said. "If we could keep (6-foot-3 J.P Holtz) off the glass, we felt like we could build an advantage there."

Shaler coach Paul Holzshu had no argument.

"Other than J.P., we're not very big," Holzshu said. "They were much more physical than we were."

Still, Shaler hung around. After Dan Taylor sank two free throws with 2:01 to play, Butler's lead was only 51-49.

The Tornado played keep-away at that point, possessing the ball until Logan Renwick found Tompkins alone underneath for a layup.

Butler sank seven-of-eight free throws in the final 35 seconds to ice the win. The Tornado sank 23-of 28-free throws on the night, with all five misses coming in the fourth quarter.

Neither team had a double-digit lead until Tompkins canned two free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining, upping his team's advantage to 60-49.

"Butler beat us with old-style basketball," Holzshu said. "They don't do anything flashy. They use a lot of kids and are very fundamentally sound.

"I'm not surprised they're 5-0. Not at all. I could see them maturing and getting a little swagger when they played us down here last year."

Shaler returns five starters from last year's 10-14 team.

"That's a good team we beat tonight," Clement said. "(J.T.) Schwartz, (Dan) Taylor, (Jesse) Della Valle and Holtz. ... That's about as tough a four guys as you're going to see."

Renwick paced the Tornado with 12 points. Sieber had 13 points for Shaler, while Taylor and Schwartz added 10 each.

Butler won despite suffering 16 turnovers in the first half while attempting only 11 field goals before intermission. The Tornado had just five turnovers in the second half.

"Our guys play so hard and aggressively that sometimes they get a little too excited," Clement said. "We calmed down and played a lot smarter in the second half."

BUTLER 60Cole Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Snodgrass 0-5 8-8 8, Eli Christy 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Renwick 3-6 5-6 12, Brian Jendesky 3-3 1-3 7, Cody Herald 1-1 0-0 3, Jeff Tompkins 3-4 4-6 10, Vinny Schmidt 3-4 1-1 8, Bobby Swartwout 3-9 4-4 10. Totals: 17-33 23-28 60

SHALER 51Jesse Della Valle 2-7 3-4 7, J.T. Schwartz 4-10 2-2 10, Brandon Bauerr 0-2 0-0 0, J.P. Holtz 4-9 1-2 9, Dan Taylor 2-6 4-5 10, Craig Feehan 1-2 0-0 2, Jake Sieber 4-7 2-4 13, Zach Kreke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 17-44 12-17 51

Butler 13 11 18 18—60Shaler 13 12 14 12—513-point goals: Butler 3 (Renwick, Schmidt, Herald); Shaler 5 (Taylor 2, Sieber 3).

Junior varsity: Butler, 44-36 (B: Cody West 17, David Tompkins 9; S: Zach Taylor 10, Brian Bittner 10)

Wednesday: McDowell at Butler