BUTLER TWP— Butler made it interesting. Central Catholic made it count.

The Vikings overcame a 10-0 Golden Tornado run to begin the fourth quarter, sank 15 of 17 free throws in the final eight minutes and scored a 70-55 boys basketball victory Tuesday night in the Butler gym.

The win kept alive Central Catholic's hopes of sharing the Section 3-AAAA title with Seneca Valley while the loss eliminated Butler (7-11, 3-7) from playoff contention.

"They made a run at us. They always do,"Vikings coach Chuck Crummie said of Butler. "But we kept our composure a lot better this time."

Central Catholic (12-7, 8-4) lost a huge lead against the Tornado during the teams' first meeting Jan. 9, holding on for a 53-49 victory in Oakland.

"They were more physical than we were tonight,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "They remembered that last game. They flat out dominated play inside."

Butler trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter and entered the fourth period on the short end of a 49-34 score.

Two free throws each by Bobby Swartwout and Brian Jendesky, and a layup by Vinny Schmidt quickly pulled the Tornado to within 49-40 and forced Crummie to call a timeout.

When play resumed, Schmidt and Swartwout stole passes near midcourt on consecutive possessions. Both drove the other way for uncontested layups and Butler's deficit was 49-44 with 5:26 remaining.

"We got sloppy and gave up easy buckets the other way,"Crummie said. "You can't go to sleep on this team. They'll make you pay."

Butler then turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. Central Catholic's Evan Tsudis sank two free throws and Lucas Mickens mad a layup and a pair of free throws as a result.

With 3:03 left, the Tornado trailed 55-44 and did not threaten again.

"We just can't turn it over like that,"Lewandowski said. "It went from a two-possession game to us being down 11 just like that."

Tsudis and Mickens are the two returning starters from the Central Catholic team that won the state title last year. Tsudis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, had 25 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Mickens, a 6-3 senior guard, contributed 13 points.

Both are being recruited by lower Division I and numerous Division IIcolleges.

Central Catholic had a 33-28 edge in rebounding. The Vikings became the first team to score 70 points on Butler this season.

"This is the first game I can say an opponent was more physical than us,"Lewandowski said. "We talked about attacking the basket after our last game, and we did, but we avoided contact and didn't finish.

"They drew contact and got a lot of three-point plays."

The Vikings completed five three-point plays inside.

Jendesky had 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals for Butler. Swartwout had 14 points and nine boards, Nate Snodgrass had 10 points, three assists and three steals, and Logan Renwick had four assists.

Butler has three regular season games remaining.

"All we've talked about all year was getting better,"Lewandowski said. "That's been our theme. Every kid who's played considerable minutes for us this year is coming back."

Tuesday marked Butler's final home game. The Tornado honored seniors Eric King and David Schmidt before the contest.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC 70Liam Halferty 2-5 0-0 4, Lucas Mickens 4-12 4-5 13, Evan Tsudis 10-11 5-6 25, Will Burgess 4-5 1-3 9, Dan Schnelbach 0-5 2-2 2, Brian Rajakovich 2-3 0-0 5, Tim Lackner 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Layton 2-3 6-7 10, Bryan Ward 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 24-44 20-25 70

BUTLER 55Eric King 1-3 1-1 3, Brian Jendesky 6-16 3-3 17, Logan Renwick 1-6 0-0 3, Jeff Tompkins 1-4 0-0 2, Nate Snodgrass 4-5 0-1 10, Vinny Schmidt 3-7 0-0 6, David Schmidt 0-3 0-0 0, Bob Swartwout 5-12 3-4 14, David Tompkins 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Herald 0-0 0-0 0, Jiang Hyson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 21-57 7-9 55

Central Catholic 10 18 21 21—70Butler 6 12 16 21—55JV: Butler, 36-32 in OT (B:Bill Smith 11, Cody Herald 10)

Friday: Butler at Seneca Valley