BUTLER TWP — Since the season started, Butler boys basketball coach Matt Clement has been looking for intensity and emotion from his team.

He saw it Thursday night.

The Golden Tornado played with passion against Perry Traditional Academy, building a lead and then pulling away late for a 65-46 home victory.

“It was a good team win,” Clement said. “We had a different energy tonight, and that was important to me because that's what we've been lacking.”

“I can say something about everyone who played tonight and that's the difference between this and the other games,” Clement added. “We had a lot of energy, a lot of guys selling out there. ... That's what it's going to take to get back to where we want to be.”

Where Butler was against Perry was in control for much of the night.

A 12-3 run in the first half gave the Golden Tornado a double-digit lead. After the Commodores made a push to tighten the game, Butler finished the half strong and carried that over into the second half, leading by as many as 20 late in the game.

Perry, though, didn't go away easily.

“Give them credit. They hung around,” Clement said.

Perry (1-4) lost every key player from last year's team that went 23-5 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs under coach Marco Corona.

“The guys are playing hard,” Corona said. “We're trying to find ourselves still. This is a brand new team. We graduated eight seniors who played all the time. We have one player on the roster who played any minutes last year.”

It showed.

The Commodores shot poorly from the field as Butler's defense held them to a 32 percent shooting night.

Perry also had trouble bottling up Butler point guard Nate Snodgrass.

The senior scored 16 points and also had a slew of assists for the Tornado.

“We can talk about him after every game,” Clement said. “He's such a luxury to have. He controls the game. He makes a lot of stuff look easy. In practice he makes a lot of things look easy. The drills are a lot smoother when he's there as opposed to when he's not. Hopefully his best games are still ahead of him.”

Snodgrass had plenty of help.

Jake Hilliard added 10 points and Luke Hartung and David Tompkins each added eight.

Throw in six points from Cody West and six more from Matt Baranchak and the Butler attack was about as balanced as it has been all season.

It couldn't have come at a better time for the Tornado, who will head to Orlando, Fla., and the KSA Tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Dec. 30.

“I think it was very important,” Clement said. “I think the kids did a nice job. I'm happy because the eight guys who played played solid basketball tonight.”

PERRY TRADITIONAL ACADEMY 46Paul Currington 1-10 0-0 2, Darelle Carson 3-5 0-2 7, Trevon Webb 5-8 0-0 11, Donte Marcus 1-9 1-2 3, Ross Hawkins 0-1 0-0 0, Dave Edmonds 0-0 0-1 0, Desean McGhee 1-2 0-0 3, Isaiah Reeves 2-2 0-0 5, Tyrone Goodwine 1-2 0-0 2, Marcus Dean 0-0 0-0 0, Jywuan Byrd 1-2 0-0 2, Don Miller 5-12 1-1 11.

Totals: 20-63 2-6 46.

BUTLER 65Nate Snodgrass 5-13 5-6 16, Cody West 2-7 0-0 6, Jake Hilliard 5-7 0-2 10, Dom Pusateri 2-5 3-4 7, David Tompkins 3-3 2-2 8, Matt Baranchak 3-4 0-0 6, Trevor Wideman 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Hartung 3-6 0-0 8, Tanner Wahler 0-0 1-2 1, Seth Horwat 0-0 0-0 0, Shea Stobert 0-1 0-0 0, Keenan Krause 0-1 0-0 0, Mark Gross 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Pilarcik 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 24-49 11-16 65.

Perry 8 14 12 12—46Butler 13 18 16 18—653-point goals: Perry 4 (Carson, Webb, McGhee, Reeves); Butler 6 (Snodgrass, West 2, Pusateri, Hartung 2).

JV Score: Butler 46-36

Wednesday: Butler at KSA Tournament in Orlando, Fla.