ROSS TWP, Allegheny County — Finding a way to handle North Hills in a Section 1-6A opener was something Butler point guard Devin Carney spent time thinking about.

Collectively, thinking about how good the Indians were may have played some mental tricks during the Golden Tornado's 82-62 loss Tuesday night at North Hills Middle School.

“I think North Hills is one of the better teams in the section,” Carney said. “I think we had that in our minds coming out. I feel like we did push the tempo a little bit, but I think we were too aggressive offensively. We'd shoot too much and stuff like that.”

The game was close early. The first quarter featured three ties and two lead changes. Carney completed a 3-point play to give Butler its first lead, 10-9, with 4 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first period.

The Golden Tornado (2-1, 0-1) would lead by as many as five, 18-13, following a free throw from Charlie Kreinbucher.

Butler's zone and the close attention paid to Indians' 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Royce Parham, who is already drawing Division I interest, also helped slow North Hills down early.

Parham, who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, was limited to 1-of-4 shooting in the first quarter.

“I thought they did a good job of surrounding Royce and making it tough around the basket,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “At the same time, I think it gave us opportunities with other guys to get to the rim because they were so occupied with Royce.”

Eventually, North Hills' supporting cast made it impossible for Butler to keep up. The Indians (3-0, 1-0) followed Kreinbucher's free throw with a 13-3 run keyed by excellent defense.

The Indians held Butler to 20 percent (1-of-5) shooting from beyond the arc in the second quarter and 33 percent (9-of-27) for the game.

Golden Tornado coach Matt Clement believed stagnation limited their offense.

“We stood a little more than we were in the first couple games,” Clement said. “Even on our run, we got moving with the ball with two or three passes and passed up a shot and kicked to someone else.”

Parham put North Hills ahead for good, 22-20, on a dunk with 5:51 remaining before halftime. Matt Seidl, who scored 21 points for the Indians, made three of the next four baskets to stretch North Hills' lead to 29-23.

“I think Parham, that guy's presence, is a big mismatch for our bigs and there were guards on him too,” Carney said. “He just overpowered us from that point.”

The Golden Tornado would cut the lead to one, 36-35, with 5:35 left in the third with a 3-pointer by Madden Clement, who made three treys and finished with 18 points for Butler.

North Hills then buried the Golden Tornado over the next three minutes.

The Indians ripped off a 19-0 run which ended when Carney made a free throw with 1:35 left in the third.

Butler opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run thanks to a trey by Carney and two by Clement, but the Golden Tornado wouldn't get the deficit closer than 11 points.

Clement expects all three of Butler's battles with North Hills this season to be intense.

“That team went undefeated spring, summer, fall,” Matt Clement said. “They've been together spring, summer, fall because they don't have a lot of multi-sport guys. That's usually what teams like that look like.”

BUTLER 62 Devin Carney 10 7-7 31, Madden Clement 5 5-6 18, Raine Gratzmiler 3 0-0 7, Colin Patterson 1 0-0 3, Braylon Littlejohn 0 2-2 2, Charles Kreinbucher 0 1-2 1, Mac Schnur 0-0 0. Totals: 19 15-17 62. NORTH HILLS 82 Alex Smith 8 7-12 24, Matt Seidl 9 2-3 21, Royce Parham 10 1-3 21, Will Blass 3 2-2 10, Logan Johnson 2 0-0 6, Devinn Burgess 0-0 0, Jake Pollaro 0 0-0 0, Jayden Thomas 0 0-0 0, Zach Pollaro 0 0-0 0. Totals: 32 12-20 82. Butler 15 12 12 23 — 62 North Hills 13 18 29 22 — 82 3-point goals: Butler 9 (Carney 4, Clement 3, Patterson, Gratzmiller); North Hills 6(Blass 2, Johnson 2, Seidl, Smith). Friday: Seneca Valley at Butler