PINE TWP — First, Andrew Kristofic missed two free throws. Then Phil Jurkovec came up empty.

Ethan Morton? Nothing but net.

Butler's sophomore guard drained a trey at the buzzer — from just a couple of steps inside half-court — to hand the Golden Tornado a 77-74 Section 1-6A boys basketball victory Friday night at Pine-Richland.

“We drew the lucky straw at the end,” Tornado senior guard Luke Michalek said.

Butler (15-2, 7-2) trailed only once in the second half. The game was tied three times in the final two quarters and the lead changed hands 13 times on the night.

“They outplayed us tonight,” Rams coach Jeff Ackermann said. “They led for the majority of the game.

“If we had won it at the end, we wouldn't have deserved it.”

Pine-Richland (13-4, 6-2) certainly had its chances.

Butler had a 48-43 lead at halftime and the Tornado built their biggest lead of the night — 55-46 — with 4:55 left in the third quarter. Pine-Richland tied the game on a pair of treys by Kyle Polce and three-point play by Kristofic less than a minute later.

From there, it was nip and tuck.

“You could tell this game was going down to the wire,” Morton said.

The Tornado had a 72-68 lead with 2:44 left and tried spreading the floor. An errant pass turned the ball over and Dan Petcash sank a trey at the other end. Another Petcash trey gave P-R a 74-72 lead with less than a minute to play, the Rams' lone advantage in the second half.

Michalek tied the game on a driving lay-up with 41 seconds left to set up a wild finish.

Pine-Richland held the ball for the last shot and Kristofic was fouled going to the hoop with five seconds left. He missed both free throws.

Phil Jurkovec grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 3.6 seconds left.

“I thought for sure Phil was gonna make at least one of those free throws,” Butler coach Matt Clement. “No opposing coach or player in our section has more respect for Phil Jurkovec than I do. It seemed like he never missed a shot when they beast us at our place.

“If he made those shots or we got a rebound, I wasn't calling timeout. We were gonna go with it.”

Jurkovec missed both of his free throws as well and Kristofic was called for a foul on the rebound. Butler had to inbound from behind its own hoop with three seconds to go.

“I had Luke Patten inbounding because we wanted Luke (Michalek) and Ethan on the floor,” Clement said. “Ethan was the first choice to take the ball. If they overplayed him, Luke is our fastest player and he could drive it.

“That was a lot to put on a sophomore (Patten) inbounding the ball, but he made the right play.”

Morton came open, took the inbounds pass, crossed mid-court, cut to his left and let it fly.

Swish.

“They defended me well tonight,” Morton said. “I was able to find an open lane and just went for it.”

The game was played before a packed house. As the Butler crowd erupted, Michalek was the first Tornado player to get to Morton.

“I told him during our timeout (before the inbounds) that if he hit the shot, I was gonna tackle him,” Michalek said.

“This was awesome tonight. A special win. There were so many Butler people here ... It felt like a home game.”

Morton wound up with a triple-double — 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

“We were playing man-to-man defense at the end,” Ackermann said. (Morton) is a great player and he made a great shot.”

Michalek had 16 points and three assists for the Tornado. Patten scored nine points on three treys.

Both teams sank 12 3-pointers. Both teams shot over 50 percent for the game.

“It seemed like everything was going in. It was like a showcase,” Michalek saied.

Petcash led Pine-Richland with 25 points, including five treys. Jurkovec had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Kristofic nine points and five rebounds.

“We only had two free throw attempts all night until the end of the game,” Ackermann said. “We weren't aggressive enough tonight.”

Clement hesitated to call the game a signature win for his team.

“It was more like a bounce-back win from our loss last week at North Hills,” he said. “It's another positive step for these kids. I'm happy for them. It's a big win, for sure.”

BUTLER 77

Luke Michalek 7-9 0-0 16, John Michalek 2-2 0-0 6, Mattix Clement 1-2 0-0 3, Tarik Taoufik 4-7 1-2 10, Luke Patten 3-4 0-0 9, Ethan Morton 12-27 4-7 31, Isaiah Scribner 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 30-53 5-9 77.

PINE-RICHLAND 74

Greg Shulkosky 1-4 0-0 3, Collin Luellen 2-8 0-0 6, Dan Petcash 10-17 0-0 25, Kyle Polce 4-7 0-0 12, Sebastian Kosanovich 3-5 0-1 6, Phil Jurkovec 6-12 1-3 13, Andrew Kristofic 4-5 1-3 9. Totals: 30-58 2-7 74.

Butler 22 26 13 16 — 77

Pine-Richland23 20 17 14 — 74

3-point goals: L.Michalek 2, J.Michalek 2, Clement, Patten 3, Morton 3; Shulkosky, Luellen, Petcash 5, Polce 4

JV: Pine-Richland, 52-44 (B: Mason Montag 15, Anthony Malloy 10; P-R: Pat Shanahan 12

Tuesday: North Allegheny at Butler