ROSS TWP — Nate Snodgrass did a pretty good job of getting by Friday night — with a lot of help from his friends.

Butler's senior point guard amassed 25 points, seven assists and three steals in the Golden Tornado's 50-38 Section 3-AAAA basketball win at North Hills.

“Nate did a good job of controlling our offense out there,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “But a lot of those plays can't help us if guys aren't executing on the other end.

“I can think of a lot of guys who did a lot of good things in this game.”

The lead changed hands seven times in the first half before Butler closed the second quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 24-15 lead into the break.

Snodgrass scored all 10 of those points, hitting a jumper, driving to the hoop for a layup after a steal, completing a 3-point play and sinking a trey.

“With Jake gone, coach talked to me about looking for my shot a little bit more,” Snodgrass said. “I hit a couple early and started feeling it.”

Butler played without starting forward Jake Hilliard, suspended indefinitely for a violation of school/team rules.

Snodgrass scored 16 of Butler's 24 first-half points.

“We tried running different people at him. ... We switched to a zone and he hit a couple of 3s, then we tried denying him the ball completely,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “Nothing was working.

“I thought we did a better job of limiting his offense in the second half.”

The Tornado (9-7, 4-3) led by as much as 31-18 in the third period before a 9-0 Indians run trimmed the gap to four.

That run ended when Snodgrass found freshman Keenan Krause streaking along the baseline and hit him for a layup with five seconds left in the third quarter.

“That may have been the biggest bucket of the game,” Clement said. “That was a freshman reading the floor and knowing to cut to the hoop instead of catching a pass and shooting a 3.”

Cody West and Luke Hartung sank 3-pointers off Snodgrass assists earlier in the game.

After Krause's layup, North Hills (7-8, 2-5) never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

David Tompkins grabbed 12 rebounds for Butler, which enjoyed a 31-20 edge on the boards. Matt Baranchak contributed eight points and was in the starting lineup.

“Honestly, I thought Tompkins and Baranchak were the difference tonight,” Gabos said. “They kept beating us to all of the 50-50 balls.

“We didn't come out with the same intensity and hunger to win that we have the last couple of games and I don't know why.”

North Hills had its three-game winning streak snapped despite getting 15 points and nine rebounds from 6-foot-8 center Steve Hearty.

Butler snapped a three-game losing streak and moved into a second-place tie in the section standings.

“Tompkins gave up 6 inches to Hearty and he outrebounded him,” Clement said. “That (North Hills) team scored 85 on North Allegheny the other night. Holding them to 38 was a tremendous defensive effort.”

Butler had 13 turnovers to North Hills' 11.

“I thought we played with poise and control most of the night,” Clement said.

“We needed this game to keep alive any hope of winning the section,” Snodgrass admitted. “We definitely played with a sense of urgency tonight.”

BUTLER 50Nate Snodgrass 10-15 3-3 25, Keenan Krause 1-2 0-0 2, Cody West 1-6 5-6 8, Seth Horwat 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Wideman 0- 0-2 0, Dom Pusateri 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Hartung 1-2 0-0 3, Matt Baranchak 4-7 0-0 8, David Tompkins 1-4 2-2 4.

Totals: 18-39 10-13 50.

NORTH HILLS 38Mike Sieber 0-1 0-0 0, Bryce Henny 0-1 0-0 0, Danny White 1-4 0-0 2, Alex Wright 3-8 0-0 6, Sam Tovassi 2-8 0-0 4, Joel Pepmeyer 3-6 2-4 8, Steve Hearty 7-13 1-2 15.

Totals: 17-44 3-7 38.

Butler 12 12 9 17—50North Hills 8 7 12 11—383-point goals: Butler 4 (Snodgrass 2, West, Hartung)); North Hills 1 (White).

Junior varsity: Butler, 45-35 (B: Zach Neudorfer 15, Luke Tincha 10; NH: Dylan Mitchell 9)

Tuesday: Shaler at Butler