He threw in a miracle 40-foot hook shot at the buzzer to give him a sensational 17 points and give the Mounties a 10-point lead as they looked to pull the upset against a favored Mifflinburg squad.

But it was all downhill from there

South Williamsport scored just 23 points in the remainder of the game, and couldn’t match Mifflinburg’s physicality as they fell, 64-45, ending their season.

“(Butler’s shot) might have woke them up a little bit. We might have caught him off guard a little bit in the first quarter,” South Williamsport coach Joe Simon said. “Our major concern coming into this was their physicality, and I think they imposed that starting in the second quarter. We were still riding pretty high after that shot, but our offense struggled. We only scored six points or so in the second quarter. I would give that a little bit more credit. On their defensive end, they picked it up a little bit more than us.. Overall, all night, we struggled offensively to get some open looks and shots.”

Chance Quimby of South Williamsport tries to block the pass by John Marker Marr of Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Butler’s first quarter had the stuff of District 4 legend written all over it had the Mounties been able to pull off an upset. Butler scored the first ten points after Mifflinburg opened the scoring with a a basket to give South a 10-2 lead just a few minutes into the contest.

It seemed like whenever Butler caught the ball, he was scoring with it. Butler splashed in two other 3s in the quarter, and rebounded his own miss on one attempt from deep and laid it in for two. The Mountie crowd was into the game, and the Wildcats were visibly getting sped up.

But Mifflinburg wasted no time cutting into the lead in the second quarte, and had it down to five at 24-19 just 40 seconds into the quarter on a Jackson Griffith layup. And, at the four-minute mark, Griffith gave them their first lead since the opening 30 seconds of the game with a three from the wing to go up 26-25. The Wildcats would never trail again.

Key to that run was an increase in defensive intensity from Mifflinburg. And, try as they might, South never really found an answer for that the entire game.

“It looks like they started to face guard Levi a little bit, the whole way around the court. But, we preached, basically after the first quarter, that we needed to set better screens to get our guys open, and we faltered in that a little bit. We had to do that to be able to get their physicality down so that we could get open shots,” Simon said. “I think it was just that, with the face guarding of Levi, they kind of saw that he was our spark, at least in the first quarter, and that if they focused on him, we might have had an issue. The other guys stepped up a little bit enough to keep us in the game. It just didn’t go our way down the stretch.”

Chance Quimby of South Williamsport puts up a shot in the final minutes of the game against Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Mifflinburg extended their lead to eight at half at 34-26, and immediately put the pedal to the metal in the third quarter. Grady Brubaker scored eight of his nineteen points in the frame. And after Griffith laid in a shot with 1:30 left in the period to go up 52-33, two of his game-high 27, Mifflinburg was firmly in control.

South Williamsport was able to get the lead down to 13 midway through the fourth quarter, but Mifflinburg quickly answered and the Mounties never threatened again.

The Mounties who returned the bulk of their rotation and had to play without second-leading scorer senior Andrew Walters due to PIAA transfer rules on Thursday night, appear to have a bright future ahead for next season.

“We got a good group coming back. Our other six guys that played most of the rotations this year are all back, so obviously the expectations are going to be set pretty high next year to continue what we built this year, and then have a better shot and chance in the playoffs next year,” Simon said.

Mifflinburg 64, South Williamsport 45

Levi Butler of South Williamsport puts up a shot against Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

MIFFLINBURG (64)

Jackson Marr 1 0-0 2, 5, Jackson Griffith 11 4-5 27, Chad Martin 4 0-0 9, Hunter Bolick 1 0-0 2, Grady Brubaker 8 3-3 19, Chase Yoder 1 0-1 2 Totals 29 7-11 64.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT (45)

Bobby Regan 3 1-2 8, Samir Moy 1 2-2 4, Neeko Bowen 1 0-0 3, Chance Quimby 1 0-0 2, Levi Butler 9 4-5 25, Jaymes Carpenter 1 1-4 3 Totals 16 8-13 45.

Mifflinburg 12 24 18 10 -64

Robert Regan of South Williamsport drives to the basket against Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

South Williamsport 22 6 7 10 -45

3-point goals: Mifflinburg: 3 (Marr 1, Griffith 1, Martin 1), South Williamsport 5 (Butler 3, Regan 1, Bowen 1)

Robert Regan of South Williamsport drives to the basket against Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Robert Regan (center) and Neeko Brown (4) of South Williamsport and Chad Martin of Mifflinburg all reach for a rebound at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Levi Butler of South Williamsport puts up a shot against Mifflinburg at South Williamsport High School. Mifflinburg won, 64-45. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette