CENTER TWP, Beaver County — Devin Carney and the Butler boys basketball team weren’t flummoxed by Beaver Falls’ full-court defense.

Getting things in order after crossing center court is what troubled the Golden Tornado during a 74-70 loss Saturday during the 28th annual RBA C.J. Betters Classic at the Golden Dome.

Butler did things the hard way. Instead of creating shots for each other, the Golden Tornado were forced to create too many of their own shots off the dribble.

The result was Beaver Falls erasing a 16-point deficit to send Butler (5-4) to its third straight loss without leading scorer Ethan Morton.

“It’s hard,” said Carney, who had a game-high 26 points, on the Golden Tornado’s second-half struggles. “We had to break their press and that’s hard by itself. Once we got past it, sometimes I dribbled too much and other players dribbled too much.”

The Golden Tornado shot 33 percent (10-of-30) from the 3-point line, including a career-high four from freshman Madden Clement, who scored 12 points.

“The 3s we made, somebody created for somebody else,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Madden was the beneficiary of those patterns. We need more of that. We’ve had to create our own shots instead of someone creating for us.”

The Tigers (7-3) were determined to bounce back after taking a tough loss Friday night. Beaver Falls lost to Pine-Richland by 30 and looked flat again at the start against Butler.

The Golden Tornado opened with an 8-0 run and held Beaver Falls scoreless until Michael Conley made a layup with 4 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

Conley finished with a team-high 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers. By the end of the first quarter, Butler stretched the lead to a game-high 16, 22-6, following a 3-pointer from Madden Clement.

Beaver Falls didn’t take its first lead until Conley made a layup with 5:05 remaining in the game to put the Tigers ahead 62-60.

“I thought the game wasn’t lost in the full court, but after we beat the full-court pressure,” Matt Clement said. “We never got into anything. We didn’t get into the offense after we beat the pressure. We dribbled too much in general.”

Climbing back into the contest required Beaver Falls to crash the offensive glass and take care of the ball.

“We only had six or seven turnovers the whole game,” Tigers’ coach Carliss Jeter said. “I was more impressed with them not quitting. They could have got down after 17 points, but they fought back. That’s the most important thing for me right now.”

After having no lead changes for the first 26 minutes of the game, Conley’s layup kicked off a wild stretch. Carney would score the next four points for Butler to give control back to the Golden Tornado.

After both teams traded scores, Noah Vaughn made a layup with 1:30 remaining to put Beaver Falls ahead 69-67.

Carney believed he thought Butler was worn down in the second half.

“I thought in the first half we did a good job rebounding,” Carney said. “In the second half, they boxed out better than us. I think we are kind of tired. We don’t have Ethan’s big presence to rebound and we miss Luke (Patten) too.”

BUTLER 70

Raine Gratzmiller 0 0-0 0, Devin Carney 9 5-5 26, Mattix Clement 3 0-0 8, Charlie Kreinbucher 3 1-1 7, Mason Montag 4 6-8 15, Madden Clement 4 0-0 12, Austin Rodgers 0 0-0 0, Dom McCowan 1 0-0 2, David Leslie 0 0-0 0, Zachary Slomers 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 12-14 70.

BEAVER FALLS 74

Anthony Franchi 4 0-0 8, Michael Conley 9 6-8 24, Razir Jones 4 4-5 14, Noah Vaughn 6 0-0 14, Kai Hauser 3 1-1 7, Isaiah Sharp 1 0-0 2, Camden Glass 0 0-0 0, Darius Nesmith 0-0 0, D’Mitri Nesmith 1 0-0 2, Livingston 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 11-14 74.

Butler 22 17 18 13 — 70

Beaver Falls6 28 17 23 — 74

3-point goals: Butler 10 (Madden Clement 4, Carney 3, Mattix Clement 2, Montag); Beaver Falls 4 (Conley 2, Vaughn 2).

Friday: North Hills at Butler, 8 p.m.