BUTLER TWP — The night started well enough for Butler.

Then the bottom fell out.

The Golden Tornado had a 13-7 lead on Central Catholic seven minutes into their boys basketball game Tuesday night in the Butler gym. The Vikings responded with an 18-2 run, taking a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter — and rolled to a 65-43 victory.

The win marked Central’s second 22-point triumph over the Golden Tornado (14-6, 5-4) this season — following a 55-33 verdict Jan. 13 in Oakland — and put the Vikings (12-8 6-3) firmly in second place in Section 1-6A.

“We know (Braylon) Littlejohn and (Donovan) Carney love to play in transition,” Central coach Brian Urso said. “We wanted to force them into a half-court game. We felt like we had an advantage there.

“We were coming off a bad (67-53) loss to New Castle on our own floor Friday and we’ve gone at in hard in practice the past couple of days. Our kids came into this game hungry and were anxious to play against another team. We were ready.”

The Vikings have held Butler to its two lowest scoring outputs this season.

“Our offensive execution was poor tonight,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “There’s not much I can say about this. It starts with myself and my assistants. In games we’ve lost, it’s been our lack of offensive execution that’s been the big factor.

“Central has a huge size advantage on us and they scored easy buckets on offensive boards, drives to the basket, we can’t discount that. But we can play a lot better than this.”

Central had a 39-24 lead at halftime, but lost then-leading scorer Dante DePante to a second technical foul at the end of the half. He was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct after sinking a buzzer-beating field goal.

DePante had 14 points in the first half. The Vikings didn’t miss him in the second. Central sank 11 of 15 field goal attempts in the final two quarters — including 7 of 7 in the fourth period.

The Vikings sank 27 of 40 shots on the night — including six treys — and limited Butler to 13 rebounds.

“Our big guys were monsters on the boards tonight,” Urso said. “We wanted to .limit them to one shot per possession and we did that. Our big men have been consistent all season.”

Debaba Tshiebwe, the Vikings’ 6-foot-7 center, scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. DePante had 14 points and four assists in two quarters, though he will be ineligble for Central’s game Friday against North Allegheny.

Littlejohn led Butler with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. Carney scored eight points.

Butler closes the section season Friday at Pine-Richland.

“Thar’s been a great rivalry in the 14 years I’ve been here,” Clement said. “We know they’re going to be ready for us.”

CENTRAL CATHOLIC 65

Randy Wilkerson 4-8 0-0 10, Enzo Khalil 1-1 0-0 2, Payton Wehner 1-5 0-0 2, Dante DePante 5-5 3-4 14, Brady Sulinski 3-3 0-0 7, Tommy Kristen 2-4 0-0 6, Cole Sullivan 5-5 0-0 10, Debaba Tshiebwe 6-9 2-2 14. Totals: 27-40 6-6 65.

BUTLER 43

Braylon Littlejohn 7-13 6-6 21, Donovan Carney 3-12 0-0 8, Ryan McLister 0-1 0-0 0, Ayden Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Porch 2-3 0-0 5, Tayt Lucas 1-1 0-0n 3, Coleton Welter 2-5 0-0 4, Lance Slater 0-0 0-0 0, Mavrik Clement 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Shay 0-1 0-0 0, Collin Casteel 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 16-41 6-6 43.

Central Catholic 11 28 11 15 — 65

Butler 13 11 7 12 — 43

3-point goals: Central Catholic 6 (Wilkerson 2, DePante, Sulinski, Kristen 2), Butler 5 (Littlejohn, Carnery 2, Porch, Lucas)

JV: Central Catholic, 58-43 (CC: Evan Kwiecinski 10-, Jayden Brown 22, Enzo Khalil 19; B: Tayt Lucas 14, Mavrik Clement 9)

Friday: Butler at Pine-Richland