NEW CASTLE — The season came down to a quarter.

Anthony Harvey took over that quarter — and extended New Castle's season.

The Red Hurricanes' 6-foot-2 junior guard sank 10 of 11 free throws in the final period and scored 31 points overall Friday night in leading New Castle to a 67-59 boys basketball win over Butler.

The victory put the 'Canes (15-9, 8-6) in the WPIAL playoffs for the 14th consecutive season, the longest active streak in Quad-A. The loss keeps the Golden Tornado (14-10, 7-7) out of postseason play for a sixth straight year.

New Castle held a 38-37 lead after three quarters, having watched Butler rally from an 11-point deficit to tie the game in the second quarter and from a seven-point deficit to take a brief 37-35 lead with 1:19 left in the third period.

"Our kids are always gonna scrap and they're never gonna quit," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "It's been that way all year."

Nick Colella's 3-pointer with 55 seconds left in the third period gave New Castle the lead going into the final quarter, and the 'Canes never lost it.

New Castle's Aaron Keys stole the ball in the backcourt and laid it in seconds into the fourth quarter. He stole the ball again and was fouled seconds after that.

Keys made the first free throw and missed the second. Harvey grabbed the offensive rebound, stuck it in and was fouled. He added the free throw and New Castle had a 44-37 lead just 57 seconds into the quarter.

The Tornado never got closer than five points the rest of the way. They played a man-to-man defense and had no answer for Harvey.

"Once they went to a man, Anthony established himself as the superior athlete on the floor," New Castle coach John Sarandrea said. "We ran some plays for him and he kept getting to the line."

"He's an outstanding player and he came up big," Lewandowski said. "We had trouble guarding him. We tried three or four different guys on him. … Nothing worked."

New Castle opened up a 55-41 lead — its largest of the game — with 3:52 remaining. A pair of treys by Butler's Nick Martini helped trim that margin to 57-51 with 1:45 left.

The 'Canes wrapped up the win at the foul line from there.

"I was watching the Pitt-West Virginia game last night and it was 22-22 at the half," Sarandrea said. "I was disappointed with the caliber of play, but Pitt makes teams look bad.

"I can draw that parallel with Butler. They have a big, physical team and they make you play ugly. There's always a lot of free throws. … Nothing you do looks pretty."

New Castle shot 47 free throws on the night, including 31 in the fourth quarter. Cody Fleeger, Alan Jackson, Blake Anderson and Martini all fouled out for Butler.

Anderson sat out half of the second quarter with three fouls. He picked up his fourth with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

"Our best player was in foul trouble. That didn't help us," Lewandowski said.

Spencer Lane contributed 13 points and seven rebounds for New Castle. Daresse Henderson added 10 points.

Jade Burka paced Butler with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Jackson scored 11 points and Fleeger added 10 off the bench. Noah Hartung had nine rebounds.

The Tornado had a 37-22 edge on the boards.

Turnovers proved costly to the Tornado. Butler gave the ball away 19 times to New Castle's eight.

Butler had a veteran team with nine seniors. The Tornado defeated seven WPIAL playoff teams this season, more than any other Quad-A team.

"I don't judge success by what happened in the last game. I judge it by what happened in the entire season," Lewandowski said. "We were 0-3 in section play at one point and battled back to the point of having a shot at the playoffs in our final game.

"We'd take this situation again. They (New Castle) had the final run, that's all. That's the way the ball bounces sometimes."

BUTLER 59Noah Hartung 1-4 2-2 5, Cody Fleeger 4-7 0-0 10, Nick Martini 2-7 0-0 6, Adam Monday 0-4 0-0 0, Alan Jackson 3-4 5-6 11, Blake Anderson 3-11 2-2 9, Jade Burka 5-6 5-6 15, Aaron Dorondo 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Marchinoski 1-2 0-1 3, Brian DeAngelis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-45 14-17 59

NEW CASTLE 67Daresse Henderson 2-6 6-13 10, Anthony Harvey 7-12 6-19 31, Aaron Keys 1-1 5-7 7, Nick Colella 1-5 3-8 6, Dan DeJohn 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Colella 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer Lane 6-12 0-0 13, Chris Larocca 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-38 30-47 67

3-point goals: Hartung, Fleeger 2, Martini 2, Anderson, Marchinoski; Harvey, N.Colella, Lane

JV: Butler, 56-49 (B-Mike Pratkanis 18, Matt Maloy 14; NC-Kei'Arie Stewart 13)