PITTSBURGH — Butler was in the game entering the fourth quarter.

But not for long.

Central Catholic scored 29 points and missed only one shot in the final period to run away from the Golden Tornado for an 80-63 boys basketball victory in the regular-season finale Tuesday night.

The Vikings (16-4, 10-2) earned a co-section championship with North Allegheny while Butler (16-4, 8-4) settled for third place in Section 3-AAAA.

"We have to handle this loss a little differently than the others," Butler coach Matt Clement said. "Sure, I'm disappointed and the kids are disappointed. Nobody's smiling or laughing in our locker room.

"Tell me we'd finish 16-4 before this season started and I'd have gladly taken that. The playoffs are here. It's time to turn the page and move on."

Central Catholic completed a perfect season on its home floor and gained its 15th section crown since 1979.

Butler led by as many as eight points with 5:52 left in the first half before the Vikings went on a 20-5 run to assume the lead. The Tornado tied the game twice in the third quarter — the last time at 45-all on a three-point play by Bobby Swartwout with 3:45 remaining in the period.

"That's when (Central Catholic) got hot," Clement said.

And how.

The next five Viking field goals were 3-pointers. Those shots were followed by a Bryan Ward three-point play with 5:18 left, giving the hosts a 63-54 advantage.

It only widened from there.

"I thought Butler controlled the tempo for most of the first half and into the third quarter," Vikings coach Chuck Crummie said. "We played the tempo we wanted for the last half of the third quarter, then the fourth.

"We were able to get up and down the floor a lot more. Butler can run, too, but we do it all the time."

The Vikings sank 29-of-44 shots from the floor Tuesday, including seven treys. They sank only two 3-pointers in a 58-46 Jan. 22 loss at Butler.

Tuesday night, Central Catholic sank 10-of-11 shots from the floor in the fourth period, including three 3-pointers. The Vikings connected on all six of their free throws as well.

"It was easy to start running the floor after hitting those early 3's," Clement said. "We had to start playing a little more desperate.

"For three quarters plus, this was a much closer game than the final score shows."

The Tornado trailed 51-47 after three quarters and 57-53 with 6:23 left in the contest.

"We were taking some charges. ... Our guys were trying, but we didn't provide help outside. We didn't get in position to defend those shots," Clement said. "If we do, they don't post those kinds of numbers."

Lincoln Davis paced the Vikings with 18 points. Dylan Layton had 17 points and six rebounds, Ward had 17 points and five boards. Will Burgess had 14 points despite picking up two fouls in the game's first 28 seconds.

Central Catholic had a 25-18 edge in rebounds and forced 18 Butler turnovers.

Swartwout paced Butler with 14 points and five rebounds. Logan Renwick added 11 points, and Nate Snodgrass had 10 points and three assists. Snodgrass didn't score in the second half.

The Tornado junior varsity wrapped up a 15-4 season with a 50-40 triumph.

BUTLER 63Cole Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Snodgrass 2-5 6-7 10, Eli Christy 1-4 0-1 2, Logan Renwick 4-5 2-2 11, Brian Jendesky 3-7 2-2 8, Cody Herald 3-7 0-0 8, Jeff Tompkins 3-4 0-1 6, Vinny Schmidt 1-5 0-0 3, David Tompkins 0-0 0-0 0, Bobby Swartwout 5-9 4-6 14, Zach Slater 0-0 0-0 0, Cody West 0-0 1-2 1.

Totals: 22-46 15-21 63.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC 80Andrew Fischer 0-0 0-0 0, Tim Lackner 3-6 0-0 7, Ryan Fish 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Layton 5-7 6-6 17, Nolan Doyle 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Wasik 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Anselmo 1-3 0-0 3, Steve Zappela 1-1 0-1 2, Lincoln Davis 7-11 2-2 18, Will Burgess 6-8 2-4 14, Bryan Ward 5-7 5-5 17.

Totals: 29-44 15-17 80.

Butler 19 13 15 16—63Central Catholic 15 22 14 29—803-point goals: Butler 4 (Renwick, Herald 2, Schmidt); Central Catholic 7 (Lackner, Layton, Anselmo, Davis 2, Ward 2).

Junior varsity: Butler, 50-40 (B: Cody West 11, David Tompkins 11, Matt Baranchak 10; CC: Claude Scott 9)