SHALER TWP — Butler was on cruise control — then lost control.

Shaler wiped out an 18-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Golden Tornado 33-14 in the second half — 15-4 in the third quarter — to claim a 52-51 Section 3-AAAA boys basketball victory Tuesday night.

The win, occurring on the Titans’ Senior Night, ended a six-game losing streak for Shaler (8-13, 2-11). It extended Butler’s losing skid to seven in a row.

Butler and Shaler are now tied for the cellar in the section standings.

“It’s a nightmare,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “A Quad-A team, up 18 points ... we have to win this game. It’s that simple. We have to win it.”

The Tornado (5-14, 2-11) built a 37-19 lead by halftime. Shaler senior standout Geno Thorpe went to the bench early in the second quarter with two fouls and did not return for the remainder of the half.

Butler suffered only six turnovers in the first half, sank 13 of 21 field-goal attempts — including five treys — and limited Thorpe to two points.

Dom Pusateri scored 14 of his career-high 24 points in the first half for the Tornado. He had four assists and three steals in the game, as well.

“One of our seniors, Chris Brasile, took it upon himself to get up in front of the team, say that we were embarrassing ourselves, that we needed to show more will, more passion and intensity,” Shaler coach Paul Holzshu said.

“Maybe he should be coaching this team all year, because whatever he said got through.”

The Titans used a 12-2 run in the first five minutes of the third period to quickly cut the deficit to eight. A trey by seldom-used sophomore Brandon Deasy with less than a minute remaining in the period pulled Shaler within 41-34 entering the fourth quarter.

“When you have a lead like they had at halftime, all you want to do is weather the storm for the first five minutes of the third quarter,” Holzshu said. “We made some plays happen early, got the momentum going and everything just mushroomed from there.”

Butler had eight turnovers in the third period, sinking but two field goals.

“We missed three or four layups in the first two minutes,” Clement said. “And with Thorpe back on the floor ... it felt like he was guarding all five of us. We were playing way too tentative, almost afraid.

“Our kids respect his talents, obviously, but you still have to be natural out there in how you play the game.”

The Titans kept coming in the fourth quarter. Brasile canned a trey to make it 43-39 with 5:39 left. A Thorpe steal and jam the other way pulled Shaler within 45-44 with 2:35 to play.

Shaler took its first lead since the score was 2-0 early when Thorpe assisted on a Deasy layup for a 46-45 advantage with 1:57 remaining.

“Deasy made some huge plays in the second half for us,” Holzshu said. “Geno is obviously very talented and can do things on the court other players can’t do. But he incorporated the whole team into the game in leading us back tonight.”

A Thorpe layup upped the lead to 48-45 with 1:10 left. Butler turned the ball over, but Bill Reinheimer missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:02 to go. Butler’s Nick Patten did likewise with 53.4 seconds left, but Pusateri stole the inbounds pass from Thorpe and laid it in with 42.6 seconds on the clock.

After Thorpe sank a free throw, Pusateri sank a pair to knot the game at 49 with 34.3 seconds left.

“Dom went toe-to-toe with Thorpe tonight. They had to put Thorpe on Dom to stop him,” Clement said. “He was outstanding tonight.”

But he wasn’t enough.

Thorpe gave the Titans the lead for good by sinking two free throws with 26.1 seconds remaining. The Titans forced a jump ball with 9.7 seconds to go and took possession.

Thorpe hit one free throw for a 52-49 lead. Pusateri’s 3-point attempt to tie the game was off the mark and Zach Neudorfer stuck back the rebound just before the final buzzer to account for the 52-51 final score.

Seth Cook contributed eight points and four rebounds for Butler, but the Tornado turned the ball over 21 times.

Thorpe wound up with 17 points, seven rebounds and six steals. Fellow senior Greg Lydon had 10 points, four assists and four rebounds.

“This win makes Senior Night that much easier on everybody,” Holzshu said.

Except Butler.

“We’ve lost a lot of close ones,” Clement said. “We can’t get over the hump. We’ll do our best to win these final two games.”

BUTLER 51

Dom Pusateri 7-13 8-10 24, Seth Cook 3-3 2-3 8, Keenan Krause 0-2 0-0 0, Zach Neudorfer 1-1 0-0 2, Arum Krause 1-2 0-0 2, Nick Patten 2-5 0-1 6, Seth Horwat 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Tincha 3-5 0-0 6, Mark Gross 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Paterno 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 18-36 10-13 51.

SHALER 52

Louis Ferraro 1-1 0-0 2, Chris Brasile 1-1 0-0 3, Geno Thorpe 6-12 5-8 17, Zach Weaver 2-5 1-2 6, Bill Reinheimer 3-4 0-1 6, Greg Lydon 5-8 0-0 10, Jake Potock 1-1 0-0 2, Jake Mathias 0-1 0-0 0, Kevin Mincher 00-1 0-0 0, Brandon Deasy 2-2 1-2 6. Totals: 21-36 7-13 52.

Butler 17 20 4 10—51

Shaler10 9 15 18—52

3-point goals: Pusateri 2, Patten 2,. Paterno; Brasile, Weaver, Deasy

JV: Butler, 48-41 (B: Andrew Paterno 22; S: Austin Critchlow 11, Jake Potock 11)

Friday: Seneca Valley at Butler