BUTLER TWP — Call him Instant Energy.

At least, that's what Butler sophomore guard Braylon Littlejohn provided the Golden Tornado Tuesday night in his team's 84-78 Section 1-6A boys basketball victory over previously unbeaten North Allegheny.

Butler (7-2, 2-2) trailed by eight points midway through the first quarter when Littlejohn was inserted into the game. He immediately stuck back an offensive rebound, then sparked an 8-0 run by hitting two free throws, stealing the ball and laying it in, and hitting another free throw.

The Tornado trailed by two at the end of the first quarter, then used a 15-2 run in the second quarter to assume a 33-26 edge. Butler never lost that lead.

Littlejohn wound up with 26 points, six rebounds and three assists.

“I'm not surprised at all by what Braylon did tonight,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “He plays with so much speed and that's the way North Allegheny plays.

“This game fit his niche. He really sparked us.”

Providing a spark is what Littlejohn likes to do.

“I prefer coming off the bench because I feel like I can help the team more that way,” Littlejohn said. “I just want to give us a lift and help the team win games.”

The Tornado lead peaked at 73-62 when Madden Clement drained a trey with 3:12 to play. The Tigers (8-1, 2-1) fought back to get within four (82-78), but only seven seconds remained on the clock at that point.

“Braylon was driving to the hoop and forced them (NA) to account for him,” Coach Clement said. “That left Madden and Devin (Carney) open for three's outside.

“I don't think North Allegheny was planning on that.”

Carney wound up with 24 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. He now has 1,736 points in his high school career.

“Braylon definitely gave us energy tonight,” Carney said. “He always does a lot of things on the court that go unnoticed. He scored a lot more in this game and he's capable of doing that.

“His penetration opened things up outside for us.”

North Allegheny coach Dave DeGregorio said “we didn't keep him (Littlejohn) in front of us and that cost us. He's pretty quick to the basket.”

Raine Gratzmiller contributed 15 points, six rebounds and four assists for Butler. He scored nine of his points in the fourth quarter, including four free throws late.

The Tornado sank all nine of their field goal attempts in the final frame. For the night, Butler hit 28 of 50 shots from the field — including nine treys — and 19 of 22 from the foul line.

“We have a lot of shooters. We're capable of doing that any night,” Carney said.

North Allegheny sank four of eight free throws on the night and hit 12 treys.

“Give them credit,” DeGregorio said of Butler. “They got to the basket and got the calls.”

Colin Patterson contributed seven points, three rebounds and two assists to the Tornado cause.

“This is Colin's third sport, yet he plays so hard,” Coach Clement said. “That kid just loves to compete and he loves to win

“Raine gives us a total floor game every night. Sometimes he scores two points, sometimes he scores 15 to 20, but the other stuff is always there.”

Joey Dopirak led the Tigers with 22 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Kolin Dinkins had 16 points, six rebounds and three assists, Anthony Howard 15 points on five treys coming off the bench.

Matt McDonough, a 1,.000-point scorer in his career at NA, was held to 10 points, but had four assists..

North Allegheny had a 37-27 edge in rebounding and took 71 shots from the field.

Butler won the junior varsity game, 56-54, as Mac Schnur sank the winning layup with 11 seconds left.

NORTH ALLEGHENY 78

Kolin Dinkins 7-17 0-1 16, Erik Sundgren 0-2 0-0 0, Matt McDonough 4-15 0-0 10, Connor Casten 1-3 0-0 2, Robby Jones 3-11 2-2 10, Ty Iwanonkiw 1-2 0-0 3, Joey Dopirak 10-13 2-4 22, Kyrell Hutcherson 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Howard 5-8 0-0 15. Totals: 31-71 4-8 78.

BUTLER 84

Braylon Littlejohn 9-11 7-8 26, Raine Gratzmiller 5-7 4-4 15, Devin Carney 8-19 5-5 24, Madden Clement 3-7 0-1 9, Colin Patterson 3-5 0-0 7, Charlie Kreinbucher 0-0 3-4 3, Lance Slater 0-0 0-00, Ryan Porch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-50 19-22 84.

North Allegheny 20 16 15 27 — 78

Butler 18 24 16 26 — 84

3-point goals: North Allegheny 12 (Dinkins 2, McDonough 2, Jones 2, Iwanonkiw, Howard 5), Butler 9 (Littlejohn, Gratzmiller, Carney 3, Clement 3, Patterson)

JV: Butler, 56-54 (B: Colin Casteel 12, Ryan McLister 11, Mac Schnur 10; NA: Tyree Alualu 20, Varun Kaveti 11)

Thursday: Butler at Kiski Area, 7 p.m.