BUTLER TWP — Never mind the opponent. It didn't matter.

Have an off-night shooting, fail to dominate the boards, go minus-11 in the turnover department and the result is easy to figure out in Matt Clement's mind.

“You're not beating anybody,” Butler's boys basketball coach said.

The Golden Tornado (2-2, 1-1) hung in for three quarters against unbeaten Shaler Tuesday night before eventually bowing by a 67-49 count.

The first half featured four lead changes and five ties. Neither team ever led by more than five points in the first two quarters.

“It was a scrap and that's what we expected, coming in here,” Shaler coach Paul Holzshu said.

The Titans (5-0, 2-0) took the lead for good by scoring the final six points of the first half — including a baseline jumper by sophomore Geno Thorpe at the buzzer — and the first nine points of the third quarter.

Just two minutes into the second half, the Tornado trailed 33-20 before putting together a 9-0 run of their own.

“I preach all the time about games being won and lost in the first two minutes of a quarter,” Clement said. “They jumped on us early in three of these quarters tonight.”

Shaler took a 38-31 lead into the fourth period and scored 29 points in the final eight minutes. The Titans sank eight of nine shots from the floor — including treys on consecutive possessions by J.T. Schwartz and Sean Gavin — and 11 of 13 from the foul line in the final period.

“We were able to put the nail in the coffin tonight,” Holzshu said.

Thorpe, who played for Shady Side Academy last year and started as an eighth-grader on Shaler's 27-0 freshman team two years ago, scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Schwartz added 12 points and Zach Taylor 10.

“Geno came back to Shaler this year. He's an unselfish player who is still in the process of getting comfortable in our system,” Holzshu said.

Butler limited Thorpe and Schwartz to a combined seven points in the first half.

“They are two of the best players in the section,” Clement said. “We were executing our gameplan pretty well defensively. We just made too many mistakes with the ball.

“Their guards overpowered our guards. We couldn't get into any of our sets or run any of our screens.”

Nate Snodgrass scored 13 points for the Tornado. Bobby Swartwout added 12 points and 13 rebounds. Butler held a 27-24 edge on the boards, but had 21 turnovers to Shaler's 10.

“We're the more physical team and we needed to dominate the boards,” Clement said. “Other than maybe Bobby, nobody stepped up for us offensively tonight, either.”

Butler travels to Erie tonight for a non-section game against McDowell, then heads to San Diego (Calif.) to play three games.

“This is gut-check time for us,” Clement said. “We'll see how we respond. These are non-section games, but they're against high-caliber opponents.

“We're gonna find out what kind of men we have on this team now by how they respond to this.”

SHALER 67Jake Sieber 2-5 2-2 7, Craig Feehan 3-4 0-0 6, J.T. Schwartz 3-5 5-5 12, Geno Thorpe 6-15 6-7 18, Zach Taylor 3-7 3-6 10, Ryan Mincher 2-4 3-4 7, Mike Titterington 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Gavin 1-2 0-0 3, Steve Kimpel 2-2 0-0 4.

Totals: 22-44 19-24 67.

BUTLER 49Nate Snodgrass 4-10 4-8 13, Trevor Wideman 0-1 0-0 0, Cody Herald 4-6 1-1 9, Zach Slater 0-1 1-2 1, Jake Hilliard 3-7 2-2 9, Bill Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Vinnie Schmidt 0-4 1-2 1, David Tompkins 0-1 2-2 2, Bobby Swartwout 6-10 0-0 12 .

Totals: 18-42 11-17 49.

Shaler 14 10 14 29—67Butler 11 9 11 18—493-point goals: Shaler 4 (Sieber, Schwartz, Taylor, Gavin); Butler 2 (Snodgrass, Hilliard).

Junior varsity: Shaler, 54-39 (S: Mike Titterington 15, B: Matt Baranchak 13)

Today: Butler at McDowell