HEMPFIELD TWP — Hempfield’s gym was more of a laboratory for Butler Friday night.

In a 64-51 boys basketball victory, the Golden Tornado (12-3) wanted to crank up the intensity and push the pace while toying with new defenses. The experimentation was the beginning of figuring out what works with senior guard Madden Clement missing due to an injury suffered in Wednesday’s practice.

“He had a big impact on everything we did,” fellow senior guard Ryan Porch said of Clement. “We kind of realized that certain people have to fill different roles now. In practice, we’re going to start working on that and see where we can go.”

Butler only led for a total of 52 seconds in the opening frame but used seven second-quarter takeaways to permanently take the lead with 4:17 to go in the first half.

“We handled the pressure pretty good,” Spartans coach Bill Swan said. “And I’m going to be honest, I think (Donovan) Carney and (Braylon) Littlejohn missed some shots … They changed their press and took away some things.”

The changes to how things look are going to take some time to get used to.

“We’re adjusting to a new lineup,” Golden Tornado coach Matt Clement said. “Different lineup, different positions, different people filling different roles. I don’t think it was really a slow start. We just missed some shots, they made some shots.”

“We were kind of working on a new defense and — getting into that — it’s going to be a slow start,” Porch added. “We’ve only been working in practice on it for one day, so I think the more comfortable we get, the hotter we can come out.”

The Golden Tornado tried four different defenses, in fact, forcing the Spartans to work for every foot of the floor on each possession. Hempfield (5-10) held a four-point advantage after eight minutes. Butler bucketed 13 points off turnovers in the following frame.

“We have to experiment these two games and see what’s going to work for us,” Coach Clement said. “I wasn’t going to bail out of it. We looked a little tired early from the initial jolt, and then they (Hempfield) got tired … You get those turnovers and you get those easy buckets.”

The younger Clement came down awkwardly in practice on Wednesday and injured his lower leg, leaving a void of valuable experience. Senior Lance Slater started in Madden’s place after having recovered from a leg injury of his own that kept him off the football field this past fall.

“The long-term prognosis is really good,” Coach Clement said. “We’re going to miss him. He’s a big part of what we do. A lot of our half-court offense is built around him. Not necessarily shooting, but him making the pass or him posting up or him setting the screen or him getting somebody in a good position.

“Madden’s been very blessed to play four years of high school basketball, win a WPIAL championship, cut a net down, make shots in the WPIAL championship game … It’s tough because he’s such a competitor and he plays so hard. But these guys, I know, they’re encouraged to fill that role the best they can.”

Filling Madden’s shoes will be a by-committee effort. Littlejohn (19 points) and Carney (13) are constants. Porch was a key contributor in the second quarter, posting seven points in that period and nine overall.

“We’re definitely a team that feeds off energy, so once one person hits a shot, the others start hitting shots,” Porch said. “Madden was usually that spark for us, so someone new has got to step up every game for that.”

BUTLER 64

Braylon Littlejohn 9 1-2 19, Donovan Carney 5 2-2 13, Ryan Porch 4 0-0 9, Colin Casteel 2 0-0 6, Ayden Davis 2 0-1 5, Coleton Welter 1 2-4 4, James Desmond 1 0-0 3, Tayt Lucas 1 0-0 3, Ryan McLister 0 2-2 2, Mac Schnur 0 0-4 0. Totals: 25 6-14 64.

HEMPFIELD 51

Harrison Sowers 3 8-8 15, Max Williams 5 3-5 13, Drew Gordon 3 2-2 9, Caden Biondi 2 0-0 5, Aaron Woodley 1 3-4 4, Dylan Firnstone 0 2-2 2, Carson Santangelo 0 2-2 2. Totals: 14 20-23 51.

Butler 11 24 12 17 — 64

Hempfield 15 9 13 14 — 51

3-point goals: Butler 7 (Casteel 2, Carney, Porch, Lucas, Desmond, Davis); Hempfield 3 (Biondi, Sowers, Gordon)