BUTLER TWP — Butler ran out of magic.

Nate Snodgrass split two defenders, leaned forward and let loose a shot less than a second before the buzzer sounded to end Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA preliminary boys basketball game.

The shot deflected short off the rim and Obama Academy left the Golden Tornado gym with a 56-54 victory.

“This is tough. ... It's the first time our season ended on our home floor,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “I was worried about this game for days leading up to it.

“When we've struggled this year, it was against teams with exactly the kind of roster Obama has.”

The visiting Eagles (17-6) had no player taller than 6-foot-2, but had plenty of quickness.

The Tornado (13-13) fell behind 9-0 in the first five minutes and did not take its first lead until Matt Baranchak canned a layup with 2:45 left in the third quarter. That gave Butler a 32-30 edge.

The lead changed hands eight times and the score was tied on eight occasions in the second half.

“It looked like the team that had the ball last was going to win,” Eagles coach Kevin Reid said.

Butler trailed 54-50 when David Tompkins stuck back an offensive rebound with 48.2 seconds to play. Trevor Wideman then stole a deflected inbounds pass and sank a layup with 36 seconds left to tie the contest.

Obama Academy decided to hold the ball for the last shot. Senior guard Dante Forte drained a 12-footer with 2.5 seconds to play.

“Our scoring is pretty balanced, but in this situation, Dante wanted the ball in his hands,” Reid said. “He was the leader at Peabody and we wanted to go home with a senior.”

The Eagles were over the limit in team fouls and allowed Snodgrass to come open at midcourt in the final moments rather than risk fouling him. Two defenders converged on him, forcing Snodgrass to flip his shot up while off balance.

“It looked similar to the shot he took to force overtime against North Allegheny (in the WPIAL quarterfinals),” Clement said. “I guess Nate's magic potion ran out. You can only win so many games that way.

“Obama Academy came up here to win. They performed well with only a handful of fans in the stands. Kudos to them.”

Forte paced the Eagles with 15 points while DeaAndre Byrd had 12 points and seven boards, DJ Porter 10 points and six rebounds.

Byrd averages 13 points per game for the Eagles while four other players average 10 or 11 per contest.

Obama Academy — a first-year consolidation of Schenley and Peabody — had a 33-30 edge in rebounds.

“I'll bet half their buckets came on offensive rebounds. They killed us there,” Clement said.

The Eagles attempted 60 shots in the game. The teams combined to shoot only 13 free throws.

Cody West led Butler with 15 points while Snodgrass had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Tompkins had six rebounds.

“Snodgrass is really a smooth player,” Reid said. “We just wanted to pressure him a little bit, get a hand up in front of his shot and have our biggest kid guard him whenever possible.”

Snodgrass ended his Butler basketball career with 1,132 points, fourth on the Tornado's all-time list.

Other departing Tornado seniors are West, Tompkins, Baranchak, Wideman, Seth Horwat, Zach Pilarcik, Tanner Wahler and Jake Hilliard.

“This was the hardest senior group I have to say goodbye to, not because I like them more, but because they've been with me all three years,” Clement said. “These guys put in a lot of hours and accomplished a lot of things.”

OBAMA ACADEMY 56Dante Forte 7-15 1-1 15, Theodore Bell 1-3 0-0 2, Lamont Butler 4-10 0-2 9, Shane Washington 1-4 0-0 2, Tyrique Harrison 2-4 0-0 4, DJ Porter 5-11 0-0 10, Joshua Grate 0-1 0-0 0, Canaan Reid 1-3 0-0 2, DeAndre Byrd 4-9 2-2 12.

Totals: 25-60 3-5 56.

BUTLER 54Nate Snodgrass 5-12 1-2 12, Cody West 6-13 0-0 15, Seth Horwat 2-3 0-0 4, Trevor Wideman 2-4 0-2 4, Dom Pusateri 0-1 2-2 2, Luke Hartung 1-4 0-0 3, Matt Baranchak 3-6 2-2 8, David Tompkins 3-7 0-0 6.

Totals: 22-50 5-8 54.

Obama Academy 15 7 16 18—56Butler 6 12 18 18—543-point goals: Obama Academy 3 (Butler, Byrd 2); Butler 5 (Snodgrass, West 3, Hartung).