BUTLER TWP — For five minutes, it was a game. Then New Castle played its game.

The undefeated Red Hurricane outscored Butler 12-0 over the final three minutes of the first quarter, opening up a 25-10 lead and setting up a runaway 75-48 Section 3-AAAA boys basketball victory over the Golden Tornado Friday night.

“We try to get 15 to 20 more possessions than our opponent every game and we do that through turnovers and rebounding,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “Once we forced a few quick turnovers and got some easy hoops in transition, we were able to settle in.”

Senior forward Malik Hooker scored 14 of his game-high 30 points in the opening quarter, including 13 in a row for his team during one stretch. Twice he scored on lay-ups, once on a dunk in transition following Butler turnovers.

“When you play a team like this, you can’t have negatives in any areas of your game,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “It’s easy to say we didn’t get back (on defense) on those plays, but they are so quick and fast.

“In transition, it’s hard to get back.”

Hooker — heading to Ohio State as a wide receiver — compiled eight rebounds, five assists and three steals to go with his 30 points. He’s averaging 22.5 points per game.

“In both games against us this year, he was incredible,” Clement said.

And Blundo called a timeout 90 seconds into the game because he felt Hooker wasn’t ready to play.

“It was obvious to me,” Blundo said. “I could see it in his body language, his stance ... The line of playing hard is so fine. I told him if he wasn’t going to play to the standard, he was gonna sit next to me.

“When I said he needed to start playing Red Hurricane basketball, he knew what that meant.”

New Castle (13-0, 8-0) rolled to its 59th consecutive regular season victory. The ‘Canes were scheduled to wake up early Saturday morning and take a bus ride to Philadelphia to face Lower Merion.

That team is the last to beat New Castle, handing the ‘Canes a 67-63 loss in last season’s PIAA Class AAAA semifinals.

“At any level in any sport, a situation can exist where your focus isn’t where it should be,” Blundo said. “I feared that tonight. That’s why I called that timeout.”

New Castle’s lead peaked at 72-35 with 4:15 left in the game.

“Our effort was there tonight,” Clement said. “I was disappointed in our effort against Seneca Valley, but not tonight. We played hard and didn’t back down. That gives me hope for the rest of the season.

“Sometimes, when players are unsure of themselves, it can mistakenly be translated into a lack of effort. We need to build confidence and that’s the hump I’m trying to get us over right now.”

Jake McPhatter contributed 16 points for New Castle while Drew Allen had 12 points and three steals, Levar Ware nine points, 12 rebounds and three steals.

The Golden Tornado (4-11, 1-7) suffered 16 turnovers to New Castle’s five and were out-rebounded, 39-30. Nick Patten paced Butler with 12 points. Keenan Krause had 10 points and six rebounds.

Eric Hindman and Tyler Frederick had five rebounds each. Butler sank just eight of 20 free throws. Krause took seven free throws in the first half, hitting four of them.

“Keenan attacked the basket. That’s the way I expect him to play all of the time,” Clement said. “Maybe this will serve as a springboard for him in thar regard.”

New Castle won the JV game in overtime, 76-75, scoring the winning bucket on a lay-up with 1.6 seconds left.

NEW CASTLE 75

Drew Allen 4-9 3-3 12, Jake McPhatter 6-11 2-3 16, Robert Natale 0-3 0-0 0, Anthony Richards 3-12 0-0 8, Malik Hooker 10-15 10-12 30, Micah Fulena 0-3 0-0 0, Levar Ware 4-8 1-2 9, Marquel Hooker 0-1 0-0 0, Bryan Owens 0-1 0-0 0, Gino DeMonaco 0-0 0-0 0, Pat Minenock 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 27-64 16-20 75.

BUTLER 48

Justice Lewandowski 2-3 0-0 6, Rich Marnic 1-1 0-0 2, Keenan Krause 3-11 4-7 10, Andrew Paterno 1-3 3-4 6, Nick Patten 6-12 0-1 12, Cory Wheeler 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Frederick 2-4 0-3 4, Eric Hindman 1-4 1-2 3, Mark Gross 0-2 0-0 0, Damien Pickett 1-1 0-1 2, Kelly Kuharic 1-2 0-2 3, Jake Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-43 8-20 48.

New Castle 25 20 20 10 — 75

Butler10 10 8 20 — 48

3-point goals: Allen, McPhatter 2, Richards 2; Lewandowski 2, Paterno, Kuharic

JV: New Castle, 76-75, OT (NC: Marquel Hooker 23, Robert Natale 14, Pat Minenock 12; B: Kelly Kuharic 19, Jake Anderson 13, Tyler Frederick 12)

Tuesday: Butler at Hampton