WEST VIEW — Some demons needed to be exorcized Friday night.

Butler did so emphatically.

The Golden Tornado sank 6 of 7 shots from the floor and 8 of 10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to post a 66-56 boys basketball win in their section opener.

The win was Butler's first at North Hills in five years. The Tornado failed to score as many as 40 points in any of their last three games against the Indians here.

“We had to get something done down here because we've struggled badly in this place,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Besides, section wins are precious and anytime you can steal one on the road, you do it.”

Butler (2-1, 1-0) never trailed by more than five points, but never managed a double-digit lead until the final quarter. The Tornado's biggest lead was 59-46 with 2:48 to play.

“We're not the youngest team in the WPIAL, but we're one of the more inexperienced,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “I think that caught up to us in the second half.

“You pick your poison against Butler. If we don't pay attention to (Bobby) Swartwout down low, (Nate) Snodgrass or somebody else might go off for 25 against us. That's the kind of team they have.”

The Indians (4-1, 0-1) held a 28-27 lead at halftime, but they went to a smaller lineup in the second half, sitting 6-foot-7 forward Steve Hearty for much of the time.

Swartwout, Butler's 6-6 center, scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including 12 in the third quarter, as the Tornado used a 10-0 run to take a 41-34 lead with 3:30 left in the period. Butler never trailed again.

Swartwout had eight rebounds to go with his 22 points. Fellow forward Jake Hilliard had 16 points, five rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.

“Jake had an incredible game,” Clement said. “He's got a long body and can disrupt things on the floor.”

Zach Slater came off the bench to grab nine rebounds to help give Butler a decisive 29-17 edge.

“Everybody was rebounding,” Swartwout said. “Their defense had to pay attention to Jake and Zach and that opened things up for me inside.”

Butler starters Vinnie Schmidt and Cody Herald each had three fouls by early in the third quarter and rarely got on the floor after that. Schmidt scored all eight of his points during a back-and-forth first quarter that saw the score tied five times.

“Vinnie held us in offensively early with some big shots,” Clement said. “This really was a team win and I'm hoping we get a lot more like this.

“We can go 10 to 12 guys deep. Some night I may only use seven or eight. Tonight, we had a lineup that was working well together in the second half, so we stayed with it.”

Point guard Snodgrass scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer to give Butler its first eight-point lead of the night.

Alex Wright paced North Hills with 17 points. Brian Johnson added 13 and Conor McIntyre 10.

BUTLER 66Nate Snodgrass 2-5 4-5 9, Trevor Wideman 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Herald 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Slater 2-4 1-2 6, Jake Hilliard 7-11 1-1 16, Vinnie Schmidt 4-7 0-0 8, David Tompkins 1-1 1-2 3, Bobby Swartwout 9-16 4-4 22, Bill Smith 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 26-47 11-13 66.

NORTH HILLS 56Nick Marchese 1-1 1-1 3, Brody Zangaro 0-0 3-6 3, Brian Johnson 6-15 0-0 13, Sam Tovissi 2-4 0-2 6, Alex Wright 7-10 1-1 17, Andrew Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Conor McIntyre 4-5 2-2 10, Steve Hearty 2-7 0-0 4.

Totals: 22-42 7-12 56.

Butler 18 9 18 21—66North Hills 14 14 12 16—563-point goals: Butler 3 (Snodgrass, Slater, Hilliard); North Hills 5 (Johnson, Tovissi 2, Wright 2).

Junior varsity: Butler, 53-36 (B: Luke Hartung 10, Cody West 10; NH: Bryce Henny 10)

Tuesday: Shaler at Butler