BUTLER TWP— Just call the fourth quarter Tornado Time.

Butler outscored defending WPIALClass AAAchampion West Allegheny 18-9 in the fourth period Tuesday night, pulling away for a 53-40 boys basketball victory.

Now 3-0, Butler has outscored its opponents 54-24 in the final quarter of those three games.

"We play so many kids, so we stay fresh late in games now,"Tornado coach Joe Lewandowski said. "That's a big part of that."

So is making free throws. After missing five of six in the third quarter, Butler sank eight of nine in the fourth.

"Seventy percent of a team's points in the final three minutes of a game are scored from the foul line,"Lewandowski said. "We talk about that all the time. Now we have to convince the kids that free throws in the middle quarters are just as important."

Butler trailed 14-8 early before going on a 15-1 run and assuming a 23-15 lead with 2:37 left in the first half. Though West Allegheny pulled within two at 35-33 with 7:42 remaining in the game, it never pulled even again.

Junior guard Christos Klutinoty was a big part of that 15-1 run. He came off the bench to hit a free throw, sink a 3-pointer, stick back an offensive rebound, steal the ball and drive the other way for a layup, all during that flurry.

"If Klut was in the wild, wild west, he'd be Billy The Kid,"Lewandowski said. "The kid is a gunslinger. He comes into the game with both barrels loaded."

While Klutinoty paced Butler with 15 points, tacking on four assists and four steals, his play was no surprise to West Allegheny coach Josh Bears.

"He scored 16 at our place last year and got them back in the game,"Bears said. "We knew all about No. 33. The difference in the game was when Joe switched to a 2-3 zone.

"We had to be aggressive against it and we weren't. We stood out there and stared at it."

West Allegheny (1-2) failed to score a field goal for an eight-minute stretch late in the first half and a stretch of nearly five minutes in the fourth quarter.

In the meantime, Butler placed four players in double figures. Cody Fleeger had 12 points and six rebounds, Mike Pratkanis had 11 points and eight boards and Nick Rossmiller had 10 points.

Jeff Slater contributed six assists, three steals and only one turnover.

"That's a pretty good game out of him,"Lewandowski said. "Our guards are handling the ball well. Our goal is 10 or fewer turnovers per game."

The Tornado had nine turnovers Tuesday while West Allegheny had 17. The visitors sank only three of six free throws.

Jake Navickas led West Allegheny with 20 points. Derrik Zeroski, the team's lone returning starter, had 13 points and eight rebounds.

"We are a typical Butler team: playing two bigs against their five guards,"Lewandowski said. "Holding that team to 40 points — I'm pretty pleased with that."

WEST ALLEGHENY 40Ben Simmen 1-6 0-0 2, Shawn Harvey 0-5 0-0 0, Derrik Zeroski 4-13 3-5 13, Evan Liwosz 2-3 0-1 5, Jake Navickas 9-12 0-0 20, Nick Herman 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Turner 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16-40 3-6 40

BUTLER 53Mike Pratkanis 5-9 1-3 11, Jeff Slater 1-3 2-2 4, Cody Fleeger 5-7 2-4 12, Austin Snodgrass 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Renwick 0-1 1-2 1, Nick Rossmiller 3-6 4-6 10, Christos Klutinoty 5-15 3-4 15, Nick Powers 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Melder 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 19-43 13-21 53

West Allegheny 14 5 12 9—40Butler 8 15 12 18—533-point goals: Zeroski 2, Liwosz, Navickas 2; Klutinoty 2

JV: Butler, 46-34 (B-Brian Jendesky 12, WA-Jon O'Donnell 14

Wednesday: Butler vs. Central Catholic, 8 p.m., at Seneca Valley