COLLIER TWP — Zone defense is a foreign concept to Peters Township boys basketball coach Gary Goga.

But it was the Indians' 2-3 zone that proved to be Butler's undoing in the Golden Tornado's 49-45 first-round WPIAL Class AAAA tournament loss Saturday night at Chartiers Valley High School.

"We might have played zone for 10 possessions in the past five years," Goga said. "We haven't used it mainly because of my being stubborn.

"For us to go anywhere in this tournament this year, we have to do some different things. We weren't going to beat Butler off the dribble and we had to limit their points in transition."

Peters Township (13-9) is the defending WPIAL Quad-A champion, but the bulk of that team graduated. The main returnee is 6-foot-0 senior guard Craig Wolcott, who averages 18.9 points per game and dropped 40 on Bethel Park earlier this month.

Butler (16-5) limited Wolcott to 14 points and only two field goals.

"They did a great job on him," Goga allowed. "He had to dish it off and count on his teammates' support."

Butler coach Matt Clement wasn't surprised to see his team facing a zone.

"I knew they'd go with some type of zone because they didn't match up well with us," Clement said. "We did what we wanted to against it, though. We got points down low and got the looks we wanted outside.

"We just couldn't throw the ball into the ocean tonight."

The Tornado shot 33 percent for the game and hit only six of 27 shots in the second half. Butler's only two treys of the contest were a buzzer-beater by Nate Snodgrass to give his team a one-point lead at halftime and a baseline jumper by Eli Christy midway through the second quarter.

When freshman Trent McPherson knocked down the Indians' seventh trey of the game, Peters Township had a 41-31 lead with 2:25 left in the third quarter.

Butler responded with a 12-0 run, eight of those points coming from Bobby Swartwout. The junior center — who led the Tornado with 15 points and 10 rebounds — sank two free throws to give Butler a 43-41 lead with 4:54 remaining.

The Tornado didn't score again until Snodgrass laid in a shot to cut a Peters Township lead to 47-45 with 59.3 seconds left.

"Sometimes you work so hard to overcome a deficit that you run out of gas trying to get over the top," Clement said.

Snodgrass stole an inbounds pass with 27 seconds left and drove the length of the floor, with Wolcott in pursuit. The two got tangled up and both players and the ball tumbled out of bounds.

A foul was called on Snodgrass.

"I don't know how they got a foul on anybody out of that," Clement said. "I can see a jump ball there. I don't know whose possession it would have been ... They shouldn't have gone to the line there."

Wolcott was 8-for-8 at the line as he stepped to the charity stripe with 23.2 seconds on the clock. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Peters' Ross Wickstrom, grabbed the offensive rebound.

Wickstrom got the ball back to Wolcott, who was fouled. This time, he made both shots to seal the win.

"That was determination to go get that ball," Goga said of Wickstrom's rebound. "That was a huge play in this game.

"All we kept hearing about is how hard Butler works and how hard Butler plays. Peters Township works hard and plays hard, too."

Clement agreed.

"We knew we were facing a team with similar work ethic," Clement said. "I was hoping our 11-man rotation would wear them down late."

Snodgrass had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals for Butler. Jeff Tompkins had seven of 31 Butler rebounds.

Jon Kovac had 10 points, including three treys, while Corey Wilcox had seven of 20 Indians rebounds.

"I was planning on playing zone 50 percent of the time, man 50 percent, but the zone kept working so we stayed with it," Goga said. "And Jon Kovac played the best game of his career tonight."

Butler says goodbye to seniors Christy, Tompkins, Brian Jendesky, Logan Renwick and Cole Harvey.

"Those are the guys I feel bad for because I know how badly they wanted to win this game," Clement said. "Those kids turned this basketball program around. I had nothing to do with it. I provided the blueprint. They went to work.

"I didn't have a losing speech prepared today. It was tough in (the locker room). But if this team gets back to the playoffs next year and goes further, this year's seniors will still be a big part of it."

PETERS TOWNSHIP 49Craig Wolcott 2-6 10-11 14, Corey Wilcox 2-6 1-2 5, Jon Kovac 3-4 1-2 10, Phil Horensky 2-4 0-0 5, Ross Wickstrom 4-6 0-1 9, Ryan Crall 0-0 0-0 0, Trent McPherson 2-4 0-0 6.

Totals: 15-30 12-17 49.

BUTLER 45Cole Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Snodgrass 5-11 0-0 11, Eli Christy 2-3 0-0 5, Logan Renwick 0-6 0-0 0, Brian Jendesky 2-2 0-0 4, Cody Herald 0-7 0-0 0, Jeff Tompkins 1-2 2-2 4, Vinny Schmidt 1-4 2-2 4, David Tompkins 1-1 0-0 2, Bobby Swartwout 5-14 5-8 15, Zach Slater 0-0 0-0 0 .

Totals: 17-52 9-12 45.

Peters Township 9 17 15 8—49Butler 10 17 8 10—453-point goals: Peters Township 7 (Kovac 3, Horensky, Wickstrom, McPherson 2); Butler 2 (Snodgrass, Christy).