CANONSBURG — Chambersburg began the game with a statement dunk.

Butler closed it with a statement denial.

The Golden Tornado started the second half of their PIAA Class 6A first-round boys basketball game tied at 26 with Chambersburg Saturday night at Canon-McMillan High School. But Butler (21-5) limited the Trojans to seven points in the first 13 minutes of the second half in posting a 56-42 victory.

“This might have been the best team win we've had all year,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “Everybody we used in the game played a role.

“We knew we had to rebound in the second half. They clobbered us there in the first half. And we had to force some turnovers to push the pace.”

Chambersburg (20-8) scored the first two points of the game when 6-foot-8 forward Tyler Collier soared over two Butler defenders to slam home an offensive rebound.

Collier had eight points and 10 rebounds in the first half. He managed only two points and three boards in the final two quarters.

The game was tied five times in the first half and the lead changed hands three times. A trey by Ethan Schreffler gave the Trojans a 29-27 edge less than a minute into the third period.

Butler used a 20-4 run at that point — assuming a 47-33 lead with 4:06 to play —to decide the issue.

Freshman guard Devin Carney had a lot to do with the run. He sank a pair of treys to get it started. He stole the ball in the backcourt and laid it in with 5:18 left to give the Tornado their first double-digit lead of the night.

They never lost it.

“I missed some shots early in the game, but Coach told me to just keep on shooting,” Carney said. “We had to stay after it, try to grab the momentum.

“We just played better overall in the second half.”

Chambersburg turned the ball over nine times in the second half — 15 times in the game — as Butler's active 2-3 zone shut down the Trojan attack.

“Devin and Mattix (Clement) were deflecting a lot of balls and disrupting things at the top of that zone,” Coach Clement said. “They were able to set up a couple of buckets in transition.”

Once it caused a couple of turnovers, Butler's zone pressure seemed to intensify.

“We could see it was bothering them, so, yeah, you want to turn it up a notch,” Carney said.

Chambersburg entered the game allowing an average of 40 points per contest. Butler is averaging 74 per game.

“Holding them in the 50's, normally, I'd like our chances,” Trojans coach Shawn Shreffler said. “We weren't aggressive enough against their zone. I don't think we attacked it enough.

“Once they were able to get a decent lead, we had to change our game-plan. We couldn't afford to slow them down anymore. We needed to score.”

But Chambersburg's second-half points were too little and came too late. Collier led the Trojans with 10 points. Schreffler scored eight while Terell Williams had seven points and nine rebounds.

Ethan Morton led Butler with 20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and six steals. Carney had 14 points and a pair of steals.

Luke Patten had eight points, four rebounds and two steals. Mason Montag came off the bench to score eight points.

Butler had nine treys in the first three quarters, including two each from Montag, Carney, Patten and Clement.

“They made it easy for me out there,” Morton said. “Mason hit a couple of three's, Devin hits a couple, Luke, Mattix ... That's what makes it fun.”

Coach Clement said the barrage of treys in the first three quarters were a key.

“Ethan knows how to find those guys and they were hitting,” he said.

Schreffler said his team's strategy against Morton was “to just make things as hard on him as possible.

“But once he penetrates, our defense sags in and he's able to dish it back out for an open three ... Those guys are hard to stop. He's got a good group of players out there with him,” Schreffler added.

Butler was coming off a tough 5-point loss to Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL Class 6A title game a week ago.

“That loss hurt and it's gonna hurt for a while,” Morton admitted. “We had to regroup and get ready to play this one. Now we just want to keep on going.”

Clement left the regrouping up to his players.

“I told them I'm ready to do this for another month. Now it's up to them,” he said. “Sure, that was a tough loss to get over. But these guys bounced back pretty quick.

“It wasn't about who scored what or who did what tonight. It was just about getting to Wednesday night and we did that.”

CHAMBERSBURG 42

Daquan Rodgers 0-1 0-0 0, Braden Byers 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Schreffler 2-7 3-4 8, Seth Brouse 3-8 0-0 6, Aaron Maynard 0-1 0-2 0, Tyler Collier 4-7 2-4 10, Henry Shearer 0-1 0-0 0, Max Doctor 2-5 0-0 4, Ty Holsopple 3-4 1-2 7, Terell Williams 3-6 0-0 7. Totals: 17-41 6-12 42.

BUTLER 56

Devin Carney 5-11 2-3 14, Colby Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Mattix Clement 2-9 0-0 6, Luke Patten 3-8 0-0 8, Charlie Kreinbucher 0-0 0-0 0, Mason Montag 3-6 0-0 8, Ethan Morton 5-11 9-12 20, Isaiah Scribner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-46 11-15 56.

Chambersburg 13 13 7 9 — 42

Butler13 13 16 14 — 56

3-point goals: Schreffler, Williams; Carney 2, Clement 2, Patten 2, Montag 2, Morton

Wednesday: PIAA 6A playoffs-Butler vs. Coatesville, 7:30 p.m., Chambersburg