SLIPPERY ROCK — The Butler boys basketball team started the game with seven straight missed shots.

The Golden Tornado scored a mere three points on 1-of-15 shooting in the third quarter.

Yet when the final buzzer echoed through the Rock Box at Slippery Rock High School Saturday night, Butler had emerged with a 56-37 win over the Rockets in the Slippery Rock Tip-off Classic.

"Good teams have to find a way to win when the shots aren't falling," said Butler coach Joe Lewandowski. "Fortunately for us, we played defense and that's what it comes down to. We came out and we established the fact that we were going to guard them. When you hold a team to 37 points, you're doing a pretty decent job of that."

Butler's defensive effort was more than decent. It was downright stifling.

Slippery Rock's big three of seniors Zack Ejzak, Brian Kelly and Matt Shearer were held to 16 points.

Ejzak hit his first shot of the night, then missed his last 10 attempts from the floor and finished with just four points.

Cody Fleeger drew the assignment of guarding Ejzak, and frustrated the Rockets' top scoring threat all night.

"Our boys took it personally," Lewandowski said. "I'm not going to lie to you. We put their numbers on the board and said, 'Fellas, if we stop them, we'll win the basketball game.'

"Cody Fleeger — what a tremendous job. He's such an underratted defensive basketball player," Lewandowski added. "He took it upon himself to say, 'You know what, I'm not going to let (Ejzak) score.'"

Still, Slippery Rock trailed just 30-28 early in the fourth quarter before Butler went on an 11-0 run to put the game out of reach.

All Rockets' coachSeanStrickland could do was lament about his team not taking advantage of Butler's slow start and cold third-quarter shooting.

"You have to credit Butler's defense," Strickland said. "They were geared up to stop our guys. I think for three quarters we played the best defense we've played since I've been up here, and to not have the lead, it's frustrating."

Slippery Rock's defense was up to the task as well. It held Butler's starters to just 23 points.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, they had no answers for Kristos Klutinoty coming off the bench.

Butler's 6-foot junior guard came into the game firing, scoring eight of the Golden Tornado's 10 first-quarter points and then added seven more points in the second quarter.

His shooting touch helped Butler overcome its streaky offensive play.

"Kristos is instant offense," Lewandowski said. "He can score from any place on the floor. Don't overlook, he also had four assists."

In the fourth quarter, Butler's depth wore out the thin Slippery Rock roster. The Rockets only played eight, with only one bench player, Brant Sloan, seeing significant minutes.

The Golden Tornado were 10-of-11 shooting from the floor in the final quarter — most of the buckets coming on easy looks under the hoop.

Slippery Rock, meanwhile, hit just four of its 15 attempts from the field in the quarter.

"We got tired, and a lot of that is my fault for not using the bench enough," Strickland said. "That's something we're going to have to look at and correct. We just ran out of gas.

"This was a game we looked at as a measuring stick for us and, for three quarters, I think we measured up just fine."

For Butler, which once again went 11-deep in its rotation and had eight different players score at least three points, the weekend tournament gave Lewandowski plenty to be pleased about.

"The first thing we learned is we can find a way to win when our shots aren't falling," Lewandowski said. "The other thing is we had some nice defensive intensity. We brought some of District 7 defense here and we're going to have to continue to play that way."

BUTLER 56Mike Pratkanis 2-9 1-2 5, Jeff Slater 2-2 1-2 5, Cody Fleeger 3-8 1-2 8, Austin Snodgrass 1-1 2-2 3, Logan Renwick 2-2 0-0 4, Nick Rossmiller 2-4 1-2 5, Jeff Tompkins 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Melder 0-3 0-0 0, Kristos Klutinoty 7-17 2-2 19, Nick Powers 3-4 0-0 6, Bob Swartwout 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 22-50 8-12 56

SLIPPERY ROCK 37Ethan Geisler 1-5 3-4 6, Derrick Orloski 3-5 2-2 8, Matt Shearer 3-8 0-2 6, BrianKelly 3-10 0-0 6, Zack Ejzak 1-11 2-2 4, Brant Sloan 2-3 3-5 7, Brian Giesler 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Cress 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 13-43 10-15 37

Butler 10 17 3 26—56Slippery Rock 7 14 5 11—373-point goals: Fleeger, Klutinoty 3; Geisler

Tuesday: West Allegheny @ Butler; Slippery Rock @ Seneca Valley