WEST VIEW — North Hills senior guard Nick Smith decided to take the game into his own hands — by keeping the ball there.

Smith received the inbound pass in a tie game with 23 seconds to play Tuesday night, calmly dribbled the ball up the floor and hit a pull-up jumper in the paint with 3.5 seconds remaining. The bucket handed the Indians (3-1, 1-0) a 63-61 win over Butler in a mutual Section 1-6A boys basketball opener.

“The kid is an all-state player for a reason,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “He made a big play for them.”

The Golden Tornado (3-2, 0-1) had one final opportunity. Freshman point guard Ethan Morton quickly dribbled the ball up the left side of the court and dished off to Tyler Frederick, alone in the left corner.

Frederick’s off-balance 3-point attempt deflected off the side of the backboard as time expired.

“It looked like he had time there,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said of Frederick. “I’m not sure what happened ... It looked like his feet might have got tangled up or something.

“That kid (Morton) did a heck of a job getting the ball to him. He’s a great player. They’re a great team.”

Neither team ever had a double digit lead. North Hills had the biggest edge at 29-22 with 2:58 left in the first half before Butler scored seven straight points to knot the game going into intermission.

Frederick canned a layup, Connor Ollio completed a three-point play and Joel Stutz sank two free throws to pull the Tornado even.

“I thought we played a good game tonight. It’s so hard to win games on the road in this section,” Clement said. “That’s just how it’s gonna be.”

The game was tied nine times and there were 11 lead changes. The biggest lead either team had in the second half was four points. Smith sank both ends of a one-and-one to give the Indians a 61-57 lead with 53 seconds to play.

Frederick buried his second trey of the game from the top of the key with 40 seconds left to pull Butler within one.

“We’ll take our chances having him take that shot,” Gabos said. “If he misses, the game is probably over. Frederick is practically unstoppable in the paint.

“Give him credit. He hit the shot.”

Frederick deflected a pass into Jace Stutz’s hands for a steal moments later and Connor Ollio sank one of two free throws with 29 seconds left to tie the game.

And set up Smith’s heroics.

The 1,000-point scorer had only two points in the first half. He scored 17 in the fimal two quarters.

“We were focused on containing Smith and other guys were hitting shots we haven’t seen them hitting on film,” Clement said. “That was a big difference.”

Gabos said Smith attacked the basket more in the second half. He made four of five free throws in the second half.

“Their point guard and our point guard (Ethan Morton) both went to the basket,” Clement said. “Their guy got to the foul line and ours never did.

“I can’t see what’s going on in there ... Maybe they defended our guy well, maybe it’s a senior-freshman thing, I really don’t know. But it was a big factor in this game.”

Smith had six assists and five rebounds to go with his 19 points for North Hills. Kamron Taylor had 14 points and three assists, Andrew Paulaskas 13 points and nine boards.

Frederick paced the Tornado with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Joel Stutz had 19 points and five rebounds. All five of his buckets were treys. Ollio scored 11 points.

“They can shoot and you never know where the points are gonna come from,” Gabos said. “Stutz really hurt us out there.”

North Hills defeated Butler on the Indians’ floor for the sixth time in eight years.

“It’s been a home and-home series,” Gabos said. “We find ways to beat them here and we really struggle up there.”

BUTLER 61

Luke Michalek 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Stutz 1-1 0-0 3, Jason Gray 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Frederick 8-10 4-8 22, Connor Ollio 4-6 3-5 11, Ethan Morton 3-13 0-0 6, Joel Stutz 5-12 4-4 19. Totals: 21-46 11-17 61.

NORTH HILLS 63

Jonny Stuckert 1-1 0-0 2, Nick Smith 7-15 4-6 19, Chad Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Chutko 2-9 0-0 6, Adam Taschner 1-2 0-0 3, Andrew Paulaskas 5-8 2-4 13, Kamron Taylor 5-9 1-1 14, Isaac Pepmeyer 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Bey 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Glatz 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 24-50 7-10 63.

Butler 16 13 13 19 — 61

North Hills16 13 14 20 — 63

3-point goals: Ja. Stutz, Frederick 2, Jo. stutz 5; Chutko 2, Taschner, Paulaskas, Taylor 3, Smith

JV: North Hills, 40-24 (B: Nick Stater 6, B: Danny Ritchie 14, Tyler Brennan 11)

Friday: Shaler at Butler