UPPER ST. CLAIR — From the field or from the foul line, Upper St. Clair had not been shooting well.

At least, that was the scouting report going in.

“They did both of those things well when they needed to tonight,” Butler boys basketball coach Matt Clement said. “They played well. They deserve credit for that.”

The Panthers shot 51 percent from the floor and sank five critical free throws in the final 1:13 to hold off Butler, 70-62, in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals Tuesday night.

A pair of free throws by Mattix Clement pulled the Golden Tornado (12-9) within 64-59 with 1:24 left in the game. Butler never trailed by more than nine points all night.

USC's Luke Gensler sank two free throws with 1:13 left, another at the 1:01 mark for a 67-59 lead. Luke Banbury canned a pair of free throws with 26.6 seconds left for the final 70-62 edge.

“We came into this game shooting 53 percent at the line as a team, yet we were 18-1,” USC coach Danny Holzer said. “Figure that one out.

“Luke was around 50 percent at the line. Tonight, he stepped up to the line when we needed him and he drained them.”

When Raine Gratzmiller stuck back an offensive rebound with 4:49 left in the first half, the Tornado had a 27-22 lead.

Then the roof fell in.

The Panthers (19-1) closed the half with a 16-2 run, driving to the basket for most of those points.

“We fell apart there a little bit,” senior guard Mattix Clement admitted.

Trailing by nine at the intermission, Butler got within two points (41-39) with 3:10 left in the third period, but never did tie the game.

“Sometimes you can expend so much energy getting back in a game that you just can't get over the hump,” Coach Clement said. “That definitely happened to us tonight.

“That run at the end of the half was big for them.”

So was a turnover late in the fourth quarter.

A Devin Carney trey pulled Butler within 62-57 with 2:08 left and the Tornado regained possession. But a mix-up on the in-bounds play resulted in the ball being tossed in to nobody.

USC's Luke Banbury scooped up the loose ball, drove in and scored for a seven-point Panther lead.

“Yeah, that was a big play,” Coach Clement said. “We have so many different in-bounds plays. We weren't on the same page there.”

Banbury, a forward, picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter. Holzer admitted he “rolled the dice” in putting him back in for the second quarter.

“I told him he was a senior and we were gonna go with him,” Holzer said.”I told him he had to play smart — and he did.”

Banbury picked up one more foul the rest of the game. He finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Gensler led the Panthers with 23 points and five rebounds. David Pantelis had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

USC won its 13th straight game and heads to the WPIAL final for the first time in 16 years. The Panthers will play Pine-Richland Friday night.

They dropped two playoff games to Butler last year, by scores of 83-78 and 77-73.

“We have so much respect for Butler,” Holzer said. “They always keep coming. You have to play a great game to beat them.”

Mattix Clement closed out his high school basketball career by scoring 28 points, grabbing six rebounds and compiling five steals. He tallied close to 1,100 points for the Tornado.

“I enjoyed every second I played here,” he said. “We couldn't get it done tonight, but I'm proud of the way we played this year.”

So is his coach — and father.

“We may have lost the game, but the way he played, this was a fitting way for Mattix to go out,” Coach Clement said. “I couldn't be more proud.”

Carney scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. He will begin his senior year with 1,499 career points. Raine Gratzmiller added eight points, six assists and five rebounds while Charlie Kreinbucher had five rebounds.

The Tornado had won seven of their last eight games before losing in the semifinals.

BUTLER 62Raine Gratzmiller 4-7 0-0 8, Devin Carney 7-16 3-4 21, Mattix Clement 10-19 4-4 28, Charlie Kreinbucher 1-1 0-0 2, Madden Clement 0-4 0-0 0, David Leslie 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 23-50 7-8 62.

UPPER ST. CLAIR 70Porter Rauch 0-0 0-0 0, Aidan Besselman 2-2 0-0 4, Ethan Dahlem 3-5 2-3 8, John Sukernek 2-5 0-0 6, David Pantelis5-14 0-0 12, Luke Gensler 7-13 7-8 23, Matt Gaither 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Banbury 5-9 7-14 17. Totals: 24-47 16-25 70.Butler 18 11 16 17 — 62Upper St. Clair15 23 13 19 — 703-point goals: Carney 4, Mat.Clement 4, Leslie; Sukernek 2, Pantelis 2, Gensler 2Friday: WPIAL Class 6A Championship-Upper St. Clair vs. Pine-Richland