PINE TWP — Pine-Richland boys basketball coach Dave Krakoff noticed something strange about his team in the first half.

His best shooter wasn't shooting.

Sophomore guard Brett Matson took only two shots and failed to score in the first two quarters as the Rams amassed only 16 points against Butler.

Matson struck for 10 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers, in helping Pine-Richland grab the lead for the first time and securing a 50-44 triumph over the Golden Tornado.

"Brett passed up five or six open shots in the first half," Krakoff said. "I talked to him about it at halftime.

"He's our best pure shooter. I told him he can't be shy about putting it up."

Butler (11-7, 4-4) put up a lot of shots in the first half, but they weren't going in. The Tornado sank just six of 25 field goal attempts in the first two quarters, yet led 17-16 at the break.

The Tornado built a 10-2 lead in the first six minutes, but couldn't maintain that momentum and saw their seven-game win streak come to an end.

""We had plenty of good looks, but didn't execute very well," Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "We were taking shots we don't normally take, some pull-up jumpers off the dribble. … We seemed out of synch a little bit."

Butler's last lead of the night was 24-21 as Blake Anderson snapped a tie by hitting a 3-pointer with 5:08 left in the third quarter.

A 15-3 Pine-Richland run followed as the Rams assumed a 36-27 lead entering the fourth quarter. Butler never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

"We looked at their first-half scoring and saw (6-foot-8 center) Eric Duerr had 11 of their 16 points," Lewandowski said. "We had to pay more attention to him defensively and that was gonna leave other guys open.

"Matson was one of those guys. They got him the ball and, to his credit, he knocked down the shots."

The Rams (10-7, 4-4) won their third consecutive game. They sank seven of 11 shots in the third period after hitting just seven of 24 in the first two quarters.

"We rely on our defense since our offense is inconsistent — sometimes non-existent," Krakoff said.

Pine-Richland allows only 46.9 points per game, the second-lowest figure in WPIAL Class AAAA. The Rams defeated Butler 52-26 Dec. 16 on the Tornado's floor, though Butler did not have Noah Hartung, Anderson or Alan Jackson available that night.

Butler did not have center Jade Burka available much on Friday night. He picked up two fouls in the first quarter and his fourth foul with 4:42 left in the third quarter.

Still, Burka led the Tornado with 13 points. Hartung and Jackson had 11 points each, with Hartung sinking a trio of 3-pointers in the final 1:46.

"After a while, we just played Jade despite the fouls," Lewandowski said. "He's one of the best big men in the section and we needed him out there."

"That's 250 pounds standing in front of the basket," Krakoff said. "When (Burka) wasn't in there, it freed up the lane for us."

Duerr paced Pine-Richland with 14 points and eight of his team's 25 rebounds. Matson had 11 points.

Hartung and Cody Fleeger both had five of 34 Butler rebounds. Jackson contributed four assists. Both teams had 13 turnovers.

BUTLER 44

Noah Hartung 3-8 2-5 11, Cody Fleeger 1-6 2-4 4, Nick Martini 0-1 0-0 0, Adam Monday 0-2 0-0 0, Alan Jackson 4-8 3-4 11, Blake Anderson 2-9 0-0 5, Jade Burka 6-8 1-2 13, Aaron Dorondo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 12-43 8-15 44

PINE-RICHLAND 50

Brandon Bove 0-1 5-9 5, Greg Anderle 2-7 5-6 9, Eric Schlegel 0-1 1-2 1, Shane Hennessy 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Felker 3-3 1-1 7, Brett Matson 3-7 3-4 11, Nick Madia 1-3 0-0 3, Matt Blocki 0-2 0-0 0, Eric Duerr 6-15 2-6 14. Totals: 15-39 17-28 50

3-point goals:

Matson 2, Madia; Hartung 3, Anderson

JV:

Pine-Richland, 47-45 (B-Zach Cuffman 11, Mike Pratkanis 10; P-R-Kevin Wissinger 9, T.J. Kuban 9, Steve Frechling 9

Tuesday:

North Allegheny @ Butler