BUTLER TWP — Butler dangled the carrot all night.

North Hills finally caught it with 1:03 to play — a Matt Seidl trey giving the Indians their first lead of the game — and never gave it back in rallying for a 72-68 Section 1-6A boys basketball victory over the Golden Tornado Friday night.

Butler's biggest lead was 13 points (21-8) in the first quarter. After North Hills used a 10-0 run to knot the game at 45 with 3:33 left in the third period, the Tornado tandem of Devin Carney and Mattix Clement combined to give Butler a 57-50 lead through three.

The Tornado couldn't hold it.

“We just didn't close this one out,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We're inexperienced right now in that regard and that showed tonight.”

The loss was the Tornado's fourth in five games. Butler had 18 turnovers in the second half — 10 in the final period — after losing the ball only three times in the first half.

“It always hurts to lose. It especially hurts to lose the way we lost this one,” Clement. “We got 30-point games from Devin and Mattix.

“It's a shame to waste those efforts.”

Carney had 31 points, six assists, six rebounds and three steals for Butler (4-5, 0-4). Mattix Clement had 30 points, including nine treys. The nine 3-pointers are believed to be a school record.

They weren't enough.

“We lost our focus. We threw the ball away,” Mattix said.

Every time North Hills (1-4, 1-3) would threaten, it seemed a Mattix Clement trey would thwart the attempt. A Clement trey gave the Tornado a 63-55 lead with 5:12 remaining. Another gave Butler a 66-57 edge with 4:16 left.

But Butler didn't register another field goal after that.

“This was a gutsy win for us,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “We were winless, but we've been in every game but one.”

The Indians had a few early-season games postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.

“We've struggled with conditioning, but we're getting there,” Gabos said.

A layup by Royce Parham and trey by Seidl pulled the Indians within 68-66 with 2:15 left. After Carney missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:22 left, Seidl hit the go-ahead trey at the 1:03 mark.

Alex Smith sank two free throws with 26 seconds left and Parham hit a free throw with 10 seconds remaining to ice the win.

The 18 second-half turnovers limited Butler to 19 shots over the final two quarters.

“We've faced that 1-2-2 zone pretty much every game,” Coach Clement said. “Tonight, we didn't handle it and that's frustrating.

“Beat the pressure, you get layups and that gets everybody into the game. When we did beat the pressure tonight, we made too many bad decisions with the ball. It caught up to us.”

North Hills had a 35-26 edge in rebounds, though Colin Patterson came off the bench to grab nine boards for Butler. Kaleb Proudfoot had four rebounds, David Leslie three assists.

Parham had 23 points and 10 rebounds for North Hills. Smith tallied 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. Seidl had 11 points.

“I thought we were too stagnant in the first half, stood around too much,” Gabos said. “As fast as Butler plays, you can't do that. Carney was blowing by us 100 miles per hour.

“We wanted to find Mattix and come out on him. That didn't work out too well. But we extended our pressure in the second half and that was effective.”

Still looking for its first section win, Butler travels to Seneca Valley Tuesday night.

“We have to shake this off and play well for four quarters,” Mattix Clement said.

NORTH HILLS 72

Alex Smith 6-16 7-12 20, Anthony McCall 2-4 0-0 6, Ethan Chmura 1-2 0-0 3, Matt Seidl 4-10 0-0 11, Devin Burgess 3-8 0-0 7, Nate Belack 1-5 0-0 2, Royce Parham 7-13 9-10 23. Totals: 24-57 16-22 72.

BUTLER 68

Devin Carney 12-23 4-6 31, Logan Koegler 0-0 0-0 0, Mattix Clement 10-16 1-1 30, Colin Patterson 0-1 2-2 2, Derek Butterworth 0-0 0-0 0, CJ Singleton 1-2 0-0 3, Madden Clement 0-2 0-0 0, David Leslie 0-5 0-0 0, Kaleb Proudfoot 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 24-50 7-8 68.

North Hills 12 17 21 22 — 72

Butler21 19 17 11 — 68

3-point goals: Smith, McCall 2, Chmura, Seidl 3, Burgess; Mat.Clement 9, Carney 3, Singleton

JV: No game

Tuesday: Butler at Seneca Valley