PITTSBURGH — It wasn’t just an opening rush that Butler had to contend with.

Rather, it was Central Catholic’s wave of defensive stops at one end of the court and consistent makes at the other that lasted well into the second half of Friday’s showdown of first-place teams in Section 1-6A.

The Golden Tornado were knocked onto their heels early and never recovered in a 55-33 boys basketball loss.

“They imposed their will early on and we were never able to slow it down,” said Tornado coach Matt Clement. “They kicked our butts and there’s no other way to put it.”

The Vikings opened the game with a 17-3 run, keyed mostly by forward Cole Sullivan and guard Dante DePante.

Butler’s offense showed some life late in the period with baskets from Mac Schnur and Braylon Littlejohn and a 3-pointer from Donovan Carney and the Golden Tornado trailed 22-11 as the second quarter began.

But any hope of turning the game around quickly dissolved into a bevy of empty possessions that extended through the third quarter.

During the middle two quarters, Butler made just two of its 24 attempts from the field. Its deficit was 40-15 at halftime and 53-23 after the third period.

“We never got into any kind of flow on offense,” Clement said. “We did miss some good looks that would have helped us settle in early on, but even when we made shots, it seems they came between 3-pointers from Central.”

The Vikings (6-5, 3-1) were coming off a 56-45 win Tuesday at New Castle, the first loss of the season for the Red Hurricane.

“Butler was averaging nearly 70 points per game, so our focus the last two days in practice was on defense ... defending the gaps and getting good help-side defense,” said Central coach Brian Urso. “We had to establish a presence on that end of the floor.”

Sullivan finished with a game-high 16 points and DePante, who recently surpassed 1,000 points for his career, netted 15.

“We have some great passers and the kids are so unselfish,” said Urso. “There are no egos on this team.”

Butler (10-3, 2-2) outscored the Vikings 10-2 in a fourth quarter played entirely by reserves.

Littlejohn scored 10 points to pace the Tornado.

“I can’t put this on our players,” said Clement. “This is on me. I need to do a better job of getting us ready.”

BUTLER 33

Braylon Littlejohn 3 4-6 10, Donovan Carney 2 0-0 6, Ayden Davis 1 2-2 4, Madden Clement 0 3-4 3, Mac Schnur 2 0-0 4, Tayt Lucas 1 1-2 4, Lance Slater 1 0-3 2, Colin Casteel 0 0-0 0, Ryan Porch 0 0-0 0, Ian Shay 0 0-0 0, Brock Collins 0 0-0 0, Ryan McLister 0 0-0 0, Grayden Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 10-17 33.

CENTRAL CATHOLIC 55

Patrick Newell 1 0-0 3, Randy Wilkerson 2 0-0 6, Dante DePante 6 1-2 15, Cole Sullivan 8 0-1 16, Debaba Tshiebwe 3 2-2 8, Tommy Kristian 1 0-0 3, Will Collins 0 2-2 2, Peyton Wehner 1 0-0 2, Brady Sulinski 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 5-7 55.

Butler 11 4 8 10 — 33

Central Cath. 22 18 13 2 — 55

3-point goals: Butler 3 (Carney 2, Lucas); Central Catholic 6 (DePante 2, Wilkerson 2, Newell, Kristian).

Tuesday: Pine-Richland at Butler