Genoa-Kingston surprises Burlington Central

Down 11-2 early, Burlington Central scored 6 straight points to make it a one-possession game. The Rockets then proceeded to miss their next 9 shot attempts while Genoa-Kingston rattled off 13 straight points to take control.

It was that kind of night for the Rockets. Except for that brief flurry, the Cogs dominated from start to finish for a 55-42 Big Northern East boys basketball victory in Genoa.

Tommy Lucca scored 29 points for the Cogs.

Ryan Fitzgerald had 16 points and 8 rebounds for Burlington Central, which lost for just the third time, but no one else could get untracked for the Rockets. Luke McCurdy and Mike Kalusa added 6 points apiece.

"Give them credit," said Central coach Brett Porto. "They had a good game plan and they executed it. What I was disappointed most with was some of our body language and our effort, things to this point we hadn't really had to worry about. To get down is OK, but how we respond is very important, and hopefully tonight we learned that we've got to respond a little bit better."

After the Rockets torched the Cogs' man-to-man defense in the teams' first meeting, Genoa switched to a zone, with particular attention paid to Fitzgerald and Zach Schutta.

"We toughened up our schedule this year to prepare us for games like this," said G-K coach Corey Jenkins. "I thought we did a great job of sandwiching (Fitzgerald), and then we wanted to know where Schutta was on the floor and I think he had zero (points)."

BC never led and was tied only at 2-2. With Lucca running the show, the Cogs pushed the lead to as many as 23 in the second half before the Rockets began to chip away. They closed the game on an 11-3 run.

Brady Huffman added 11 points for Genoa (15-9, 9-3).