BUTLER TWP — When Butler punched, New Castle punched back.

Hard.

The Red Hurricane used well-timed runs of 18-1 and 14-3 to put away the Golden Tornado, 64-48, in a mutual Section 3 boys basketball opener Tuesday night in the Butler gym.

“I liked the way our kids responded when they were pushed,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “That's what competitive athletes do and we need that because this is going to be a very competitive section.”

Butler (1-2) took an 8-2 lead in the game's first three minutes as Luke Hartung drained a pair of early treys. New Castle (3-0) put together its 18-1 run at that point to assume a 20-9 lead with 20 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Trailing 30-16 late in the first half, the Tornado scored the final six points of the second quarter, then used a 10-3 run early in the third to pull within 33-30 with 4:47 left in the period.

“I'm not one for moral victories, but we proved tonight that an inexperienced team can compete in this section,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “But do we have a lot of things to clean up? Definitely.”

A 14-3 New Castle run gave the 'Canes a 47-33 lead through three quarters. The Tornado did not trim that deficit below double digits again.

“It's a war of attrition with us,” Blundo said. “We're going to play quick tempo, get up and down the floor, and mistakes will come with that.

“But we're an experienced group. Our point guard (Brandon Domenick) is a four-year starter. He and our other guard, Anthony Richards, has a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. We have a bunch of guys who have been playing varsity ball together for three years and it's hard for teams to handle that for 32 minutes.”

Senior forward Malik Hooker had 19 points and eight rebounds for New Castle. Fellow senior forward Shawn Anderson had 11 points and 13 boards, senior forward Antonio Rudolph 12 points and five rebounds.

The 'Canes had a 34-26 rebounding edge overall. Butler had 18 turnovers to New Castle's 10.

“They get you with offensive rebounds, transition layups and 3-point shooting,” Clement said. “We did a good job taking away their outside shooting, but it's tough to contain everyone when you're facing a team that talented.

“We lost the turnover battle, but we had a sophomore point guard facing that kind of intense pressure and he did OK. You grow as a player and as a team through playing opponents like this.

“I'm not happy with the double-digit loss. We have to compete a little better than that. But there are definitely some positives we can take away from this,” Clement added.

Hartung was one of them, collecting 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Tornado. Seth Cook had nine points.

“Dom (Pusateri) did a great job defending No. 22 (Anthony Richards), who is one of the best players in the section,” Clement said.

Richards scored only two points, hitting 1 of 6 shots from the field.

New Castle attempted 65 shots from the floor to Butler's 35. In the second quarter, the 'Canes took 21 shots to Butler's five.

“Butler's kids played extremely hard right to the final buzzer,” Blundo said. “We expected that and that's what we got. This game was good for us. Teams in this section won't be intimidated by us.”

New Castle averaged 86 points, 24 assists and 12 steals in its first two games this season.

“Every player on our team is a fighter. We have no quitters,” Clement said. “Every guy I played tonight left it all out there. That's what we have to be about every night.”

NEW CASTLE 64

Brandon Domenick 3-6 1-2 8, Jesse Salzano 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Allen 1-1 0-0 3, Antonio Rudolph 6-14 0-0 12, Jake McPhatter 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Fitzpatrick 0-1 1-2 1, Shawn Anderson 5-12 1-1 11, Anthony Richards 1-6 0-0 2, Malik Hooker 7-19 3-4 19, Micah Fulena 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Allen 4-4 0-1 8, Levar Ware 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 27-65 6-10 64.

BUTLER 48

Dom Pusateri 1-2 2-4 5, Seth Cook 4-6 1-2 9, Keenan Krause 2-2 3-4 7, Seth Horwat 1-4 0-0 2, Luke Hartung 5-9 1-3 14, Arum Krause 1-3 0-0 3, Luke Tincha 0-1 0-0 0, Mark Gross 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Patten 2-4 1-3 5, Zach Neudorfer 1-3 0-0 2, Shae Stobert 0-1 1-2 1, Jordan Cratty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-35 9-19 48.

New Castle 20 10 17 17—64

Butler12 8 13 15—48

3-pointers: Domenick, D.Allen. Hooker 2; Pusateri, Hartung 3, A.Krause

JV: New Castle, 52-32 (NC: Levar Ware 16, Micah Fulena 15; B: Andrew Paterno 8)

Friday: Butler at Perry Traditional Academy