PINE TWP — Butler's single-game scoring record fell again at the hands of Ethan Morton.

Only this time, the Golden Tornado point guard wasn't wearing a tired look of satisfaction.

It was a look of frustration.

Morton scored 51 points in Butler's 79-74 Class 1-6A boys basketball loss at Pine-Richland Tuesday night. He snapped his own school record of 48, set a few weeks ago in a win against Canfield (Ohio).

“The 51 points are meaningless. I don't care about them at all,” Morton said. “I'd gladly trade that in for five points and a win.”

The Tornado (9-3, 2-1) nearly produced a victory, but had to watch the Rams (10-2, 3-0) celebrate their ninth consecutive triumph.

The lead changed hands seven times and was tied on six occasions. The final deadlock was at 57 as Luke Patten sank a layup for Butler with 7:48 remaining.

Pine-Richland scored the game's next eight points, however, to assume its biggest lead of the night. Still, Butler didn't go away.

A Morton layup with 38.5 seconds left pulled the Tornado within 74-72. Colin Luellen sank the front end of a one-and-one for the Rams with 34 seconds left, but missed the second free throw.

Daniel Petcash came up with the offensive rebound for Pine-Richland and sank two free throws of his own with 25 seconds left, extending the lead to 77-72 to put away the win.

“Their offensive boards hurt us tonight,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “That's what got them back into the game after our quick start.”

Butler jumped on Pine-Richland early, racing out to an 18-6 lead and forcing Rams coach Jeff Ackerman to call a timeout with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

“Our brand of basketball is to run the floor and attack,” Ackerman said. “We weren't playing that way early.

“We threw the ball right to them six times. They weren't even trapping us. They were playing a zone. We were sloppy. We weren't ready at the start. But we have guys on this team — Greg Shulkosky and Dan Petcash — who have been to state championships. They know what it takes to win.

“Their leadership really kicked in at that point,” Ackerman added.

Morton was kicking in gear all night.

He sank 20 of 31 shots from the floor, scoring many of his buckets on drives to the basket. He also had eight assists and eight rebounds — meaning he figured in on all but two of Butler's 30 field goals.

“We were taking what they were giving us,” Morton said. “The lane was there and I was using it.”

Much of that was by Pine-Richland's design.

“We weren't going to double Morton ... I don't think doubling him is the way to play him. He sees the floor too well,” Ackerman said. “We were going to play our game, stick to our man and try to take away everybody else, see if Morton could outscore us by himself.

“He almost did that. The kid is an incredible player. It seems like he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.”

The Tornado managed only three treys all night. Devin Carney sank two and scored 10 points. Patten had the other trey and netted nine points.

“That was the trade-off,” Clement said. “The lane was open. That's what they gave us. They pressed our shooters.”

Pine-Richland had six turnovers in the first five minutes. The Rams had five turnovers the rest of the game.

Petcash paced Pine-Richland with 28 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Luellen had 18 points and seven boards, Shulkosky 17 points and six assists.

“Those guys have been playing together for a long time and they don't beat themselves,” Morton said. “You have to pretty much play a flawless game to beat them.”

Pine-Richland had a 32-24 rebounding edge. Patten had seven rebounds and two steals, Carney four steals for Butler.

“You don't gain anything from a loss, but we showed we can play with them on their floor and they are one of the best teams in 6A,” Clement said. “It came down to a couple of plays, that's all it was. We played hard.

“We'll regroup and get ready for Central Catholic on Friday. There's a lot of basketball to play yet.”

BUTLER 74

Devin Carney 4-10 0-0 10, Mattix Clement 0-5 0-0 0, Luke Patten 4-7 0-0 9, Chaeles Kreinbucher 1-1 0-0 2, Mason Montag 0-2 0-0 0, Ethan Morton 20-31 11-13 51, Isaiah Scribner 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 30-56 11-13 74.

PINE-RICHLAND 79

Greg Shulkosky 7-15 0-0 17, Colin Luellen 7-11 3-3 18, Daniel Petcash 9-14 8-8 28, Patrick Shanahan 0-4 1-12 1, Kyle Polce 4-7 0-0 9, Tyler King 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Murray 2-5 0-0 6. Totals: 29-56 12-13 79.

Butler 25 15 15 19 — 74

Pine-Richland18 21 18 22 — 79

3-point goals: Carney 2, Patten; Sulkosky 3, Luellen, Petcash 2, Polce, Murray 2

JV: Pine-Richland, 50-41 (B: Raine Gratzmiller 12, Zach Slomers 12; P-R: Jack Sevco 14, Luke Shanahan 10)

Friday: Central Catholic at Butler