SHALER TWP— Shaler's new offensive system wasn't working.

Good thing Ben Altmeyer was.

The Titans' 5-foot-10 senior point guard scored a career-high 36 points, including five 3-pointers, and had three assists in leading his team to a come-from-behind 60-58 boys basketball victory over Butler Friday night.

Butler (5-2, 1-1) led by 16 points with 19 seconds left in the first half and led the entire game until Altmeyer sank a baseline jumper with 7:12 left in the game. That shot gave Shaler a 46-45 advantage. The game was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way.

Altmeyer's shot capped a Shaler shooting spree that saw the Titans hit 15 of 20 shots from the floor, including seven treys, from the start of the second quarter until 7:12 remained in the contest.

Shaler sank just one of seven shots in the first period while falling behind, 16-3.

"You can play good defense and the other team can still score,"Butler coach Joe Lewandowski said. "That's the nature of this game sometimes."

Shaler (4-3, 1-2) struggled to get off shots in the first half, attempting 14 field goals while turning the ball over 11 times.

"We're the least experienced team in the section this year,"Shaler coach Howie Ruppert said. "Because of that, we've tried changing our offense to more dribble drive penetration, and we've been struggling with it.

"Finally, at halftime, I told the team 'Fellas, it just isn't working.' So we went back to the offense we've run here for years, more of a motion game with cutting and screening. It opened things up for us."

Basically, it opened things up for Altmeyer.

He scored 27 of his team's 42 points in the second half, including 16 of 19 in the fourth quarter.

Altmeyer hit a trey just before the buzzer to end the third quarter, pulling the Titans within 45-41. He canned another trey to begin the fourth period, then hit the aforementioned corner jumper to put his team in the lead.

"That shot bounced off the glass and went in. I don't think I've ever seen a shot from the corner go in off the glass before," Lewandowski said.

Butler got the lead back on a Mike Pratkanis trey and used a layup and two free throws from Jeff Slater to build a 52-47 lead with 3:33 left.

Trailing 54-49, Shaler knotted the game on a jumper by Jesse Della Valle, a layup and a technical foul shot by Altmeyer with 2:28 to go.

Altmeyer went to the free throw line after Slater had a layup taken away by a charging call. Christos Klutinoty was whistled for the technical.

"That was a key part of this game because we had points taken off the board and they were able to put points on,"Lewandowski said.

Altmeyer snapped the 54-all tie by draining a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left. He added a free throw with 21.7 seconds to go before Cody Fleeger stuck back an offensive rebound to pull the Golden Tornado within 58-56 with 12 seconds on the clock.

Altmeyer clinched the win by sinking a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining. Slater laid a shot in the hoop just before the buzzer to end the scoring.

"Ben's our point guard, so the ball has to be in his hands,"Ruppert said. "Going back to seventh grade, this is the first year he's been a starter for a Shaler basketball team.

"Being the go-to guy — this is all new to him. Having a game like this has to help his confidence."

Altmeyer entered the game averaging 17.7 points per contest. The Titans snapped a three-game losing streak.

"We had to win this game. There's no question about that,"Ruppert said.

Klutinoty led Butler with 19 points. Pratkanis added 17 points and seven rebounds, Fleeger 10 points and five boards. The Tornado had a 22-11 edge in rebounds.

Butler had 19 turnovers. Shaler turned the ball over only three times in the second half.

"We don't create turnovers, we create missed shots,"Lewandowski said. "Tonight, they didn't miss."

BUTLER 58Mike Pratkanis 8-10 0-0 17, Jeff Slater 2-5 4-5 8, Cody Fleeger 3-5 4-4 10, Austin Snodgrass 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Renwick 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Melder 1-2 0-0 2, Christos Klutinoty 7-13 2-2 19.

Totals: 22-37 10-11 58

SHALER 60Ben Altmeyer 9-14 13-18 36, Jesse Della Valle 1-3 1-2 3, Dan Wirkowski 3-9 0-0 9, Drew Stanny 0-0 0-0 0, Dan Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Jeff Szczypinski 1-1 0-0 2, J.T. Schwartz 0-0 0-0 0, Steve Wirkowski 3-3 0-0 6, Greg Feehan 1-2 0-0 2.

Totals: 19-35 14-20 60

Butler 16 16 13 13—58Shaler 3 15 23 19—603-point goals: Klutinoty 3, Pratkanis; Altmeyer 5, D. Wirkowski 3

JV: Butler, 32-31 (B-Jeff Tompkins 10, S-Greg Friend 7)

Tuesday: Seneca Valley at Butler