SOUTH FAYETTE TWP — It looked like a so-so Saturday.

Butler trailed at undefeated South Fayette, 27-19, at halftime and headed to the locker room after scoring just seven points in the second quarter.

But the Golden Tornado exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Lions 26-6, and went on to take home a 61-53 non-section boys basketball victory.

“A non-section game on a Saturday afternoon, trailing the way they were ... the kids could have just mailed it in,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “The way they came back out and got after it, dug in deep defensively ... I’m very proud of this effort.

“That third quarter, yeah, that’s as well as we’ve played.”

The Tornado (9-2) won their fourth straight game and have one more non-section game left — Tuesday at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic — before resuming Section 3-AAAA play Friday.

“They just out-executed us,” South Fayette coach Rich Bonnaure said. “Butler played a tremendous third quarter.

“Our big theory here is the first three possessions for both teams at the start of the third period is the biggest part of the game. We take pride in winning that. Today, Butler did it to us.”

Butler senior forward Mark Gross assisted on three successive Tyler Frederick buckets to begin the third period. Gross then completed a three-point play to give the Tornado a 28-27 lead with 5:55 left in the quarter.

A Matt O’Rourke jumper regained the lead briefly for South Fayette (5-1). But a 3-pointer by Andrew Paterno, two Gross free throws and a Frederick layup combined to give Butler a 35-31 lead with 3:56 left in the quarter.

Butler never trailed again. Gross sank a trey with 22 seconds left in the period to hand his team a 45-33 lead going into the final eight minutes.

Frederick scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half. Paterno scored all of 11 of his points — including three treys — in the final two quarters.

“Andrew was the catalyst defensively in that third quarter,” Clement said. “He came up with two or three big steals early.”

Gross was the catalyst offensively. He scored 12 points and had 10 assists. Seven of his assists occurred in the second half.

“The guards do all the work on most of those,” Gross said of the assists. “Our guards have two guys on them when they manage to get the ball to me inside.

“Once they do that, they have the defense scrambling around. Someone’s always open and I just need to get the ball there.”

Paterno had three assists and three steals for Butler. His final trey of the game gave Butler a 53-42 lead with 2:26 remaining and sealed the deal.

The host Lions had 18 turnovers to Butler’s 16. Senior guard Nick McKee scored 24 points for South Fayette, including six treys. He scored 16 of those points in the first half.

“We put Justice (Lewandowski) on him in the second half and five of his (second half) points came in the final minute, when the game was decided,” Clement said.

“They kept trying to get the ball inside to No. 2 (Brett Brumbaugh) and we did a good job of denying that all day.”

The 6-foot-4 Brumbaugh, the quarterback of South Fayette’s PIAA champion football team, managed only five points and six rebounds. Jack Relihan had 16 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Lions.

“Execpt for Nick, we didn’t shoot the ball well today,” Bonnaure said. “We’re just rounding back into form. Our football players have had maybe six practices. We’ll get better.

“That’s why we play teams like Butler in non-section games. We don’t want an easy schedule.”

Clement lauded the play of the Lions.

“That’s definitely one of the top eight teams in (WPIAL) Triple-A, probably a top five,” Clement said. “This is a nice win for us, an effort win.”

BUTLER 61

Jace Stutz 2-6 0-0 5, Justice Lewandowski 1-6 2-2 5, Keenan Krause 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Paterno 3-6 2-4 11, Tyler Frederick 9-11 3-6 21, Jake Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Joel Stutz 1-1 0-0 3, Eric Hindman 1-1 0-0 2, Mark Gross 4-6 3-3 12. Totals: 22-38 10-15 61.

SOUTH FAYETTE 53

Jack Relihan 4-6 6-6 16, Brett Brumbaugh 2-4 1-4 5, Nick McKee 8-15 2-2 24, Matt O’Rourke 2-5 0-0 4, Jake Thomas 1-8 0-0 2, George Slater 1-1 0-0 2, Tom Silko 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Cameron Garland 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Castelucci 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-43 9-12 53.

Butler 12 7 26 16 — 61

South Fayette15 12 6 20 — 53

3-point goals: Ja.Stutz, Lewandowski, Paterno 3, Jo.Stutz, Gross; Relihan 2, McKee 6

JV: Butler, 48-46 (B: Kaden Rock 13, Connor Ollio 13; SF: Cameron Garland 11, Ryhan Culberson 11)

Tuesday: Butler at CW North Catholic