ROSS TWP — Ethan Morton's 2,000th career point occurred on a layup.

That's about all that was falling for Butler in the first half of its Section 1-6A basketball game Friday night at North Hills.

Morton's steal and layup at the end of the half secured his milestone, but the Golden Tornado still trailed by four at intermission. Butler missed 23 of its first 28 shots.

“I told the kids at halftime the shots would start falling,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “They had to believe that.”

Butler (13-4, 7-0) exploded for 45 points in the second half and rolled to a 70-50 triumph in a gym that has given the Tornado fits in recent years.

“We haven't played our best ball here, that's for sure,” Morton said.

The strong second half enabled Butler to win its eighth straight game and remain unbeaten in section play. The Tornado have a two-game lead in the section with three to play.

“Our goal all year has been to win the section title,” sophomore guard Devin Carney said. “Now we're one step closer.”

It was Carney who jump-started the Tornado offense. After hitting three of his 10 shots in the first half, he drained six of nine shots — including a pair of treys — in the final two quarters.

“Nobody in the WPIAL can get hot faster than Devin Carney,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “He got rolling and we couldn't stop him.

“Add in that arguably the best player in the state facilitates their offense and they can get going that quickly.”

Butler outscored the Indians (6-10, 2-5) 24-7 in the third quarter to take a 49-36 lead into the fourth. Carney scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the third frame.

The lead peaked at 70-45 with 90 seconds to play.

Morton wound up with 19 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists and six steals. Mattix Clement scored 11 points, hitting three treys.

Morton has 2,009 career points. He also has more than 800 rebounds and 600 steals in his career.

“I remember when Ethan got his first triple-double ... I thought, 'man a triple-double in high school, that's pretty good.' Now we take them for granted when he does it,” Clement said.

Butler can clinch its first section championship since 1992 with a win at Pine-Richland Tuesday night.

“We had to do something to change the pace of the game and get into more of a flow offensively,” Morton said. “We got a couple of steals, hit a couple of three's, got into transition.

“We forced them to shoot the ball a little quicker.”

Morton was happy he scored his 2,000th point on the same night as a triple-double on the road.

So was his coach.

“It feels good,” Morton said of the 2,000. “I'm glad it happened when it did. In the second half, we relaxed a little more and got into our game.”

“How many point guards do you see with a chance to get 1,000 rebounds?” Clement said. “The 2,000 points is impressive enough. When you factor in all of the other stuff ... It's a lot of numbers and a lot of great performances.”

Devin Burgess led North Hills with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Logan Marshalek had 10 points and four assists.

But this night was all about Morton.

“What will I remember about him?” Gabos said in repeating a question. “Unselfish. Just plain unselfish. That's why he'll do so well at the next level.

“That kid doesn't care if he gets his. He just gets wins. He's a handful.”

Carney may have the most apt description of Morton's career.

“Insane,” he said. “What he does every night is simply insane. I love playing with him and so does everybody else.”

BUTLER 70

Zach Slomers 0-0 0-0 0, Raine Gratzmiller 1-3 6-6 9, Devin Carney 11-22 2-2 29, Mattix Clement 4-14 0-0 11, Charlie Kreinbucher 1-2 0-0 2, Mason Montag 0-3 0-0 0, Ethan Morton 8-16 2-2 19. Totals: 25-62 10-10 70.

NORTH HILLS 50

Alex Smith 2-4 3-8 8, Logan Marshalek 4-15 1-2 10, Matt Seidl 4-8 0-0 8, Devin Burgess 4-6 4-4 12, Nate Belack 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Heinl 3-6 0-0 7, Michael Topich 1-1 0-0 2, Jayden Smith 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 19-42 8-14 50.

Butler 10 15 24 21 — 70

North Hills10 19 7 14 — 50

3-point goals: Gratzmiller, Carney 5, Clement 3, Morton; Smith, Marshalek, Heinl, Smith

JV: North Hills, 56-45 (B: Brady Gavula 14, CJ Singleton 11; NH: Ethan Chmura 11, Michael Topich 10)

Tuesday: Butler at Pine-Richland