Freshman Schutta shoots Burlington Central past Kaneland

Zach Schutta made the first start of his Burlington Central career Friday night at the 52nd annual Plano Christmas Classic.

It won't be the last.

The freshman, averaging 5 points a game, made quite an impact for the Rockets, scoring a career-high 23 points in a 66-57 victory over Kaneland.

No. 3 seed Burlington Central (7-4), fourth in this tournament last year, will play No. 6 Morris in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Saturday.

"I just came out there and played my best," Schutta said. "My shots were falling and I kept shooting the ball. It's pretty awesome."

Rockets coach Brett Porto said Schutta earned the start by scoring double figures in his past three games.

"Tonight wasn't unexpected," Porto said. "He just took it and ran with it which was nice to see. Hopefully he can string a bunch of these together."

Schutta made 9 of 14 shots from the field, 3 of his 4 from 3-point range and both of his free throws.

"He had a lot of open looks and knocked them down," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. "He's probably riding pretty high right now and he should be. He played with a lot of confidence. He definitely didn't play like a freshman."

Schutta started the night with a 3-pointer, erasing Kaneland's only lead on Mark Lilly's steal and layup.

Ryan Fitzgerald scored Burlington Central's next four points at the free-throw line, then the Rockets got red-hot from the field. They made 10 straight field goals in the first quarter and finished 11 of 12 to open a 29-12 lead after a quarter.

"They just tore our defense up and got wide open shot after wide open shot," Johnson said. "You give a team open looks and they are going to make shots. We let them do whatever they wanted with the basketball. It was a very poor first quarter."

Kaneland (2-7) outscored Burlington Central in each of the next three quarters, yet the 17-point hole was too much to dig out of. The Knights never got closer than 8 points.

Ryan David did his best to bring Kaneland back, scoring 18 points in the first half on his way to 27. The Knights scored the first 9 points of the second quarter, but the Rockets always had a response and held leads of 40-27 at halftime and 54-43 after three quarters.

Kaneland center Jacob Gomes rebounded his own missed free throw and scored for an unconventional 3-point play, bringing the Knights within 56-48 with 4:26 remaining.

Schutta followed with a pair of free throws, then scored three baskets inside as the Rockets took time off the clock and each time ended up beating Kaneland's traps to find the open man.

"We have a lot of confidence in him, he's got a lot of confidence in himself to make plays like that and score in crucial moments like that," Porto said of Schutta.

Fitzgerald and Andrew Wiss both added 11 points for the Rockets and Stefan Jochum scored 9.

The Rockets only turned the ball over 5 times to Kaneland's 11 - many coming just when the Knights were trying to get the deficit under 8 points.

"It was like we were our own worst enemy at times," said Johnson, who found one bright spot in David's 27-point game that followed a 19-point night Tuesday.

"He was outstanding. That's kind of what we are looking for from him. He worked hard this off-season. He's long, he's fairly athletic."

Connor Fedderly and Lilly both scored 7 points.

"Coach has given me a lot of confidence," David said. "I'm just relaxing and taking good shots.

"We're coming out slow and getting better as the game goes on. If we came out strong we could beat anybody."

Kaneland plays at 9 a.m. Saturday against Seneca.