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Burlington Central clinches BN-East title outright

The Burlington Central boys basketball team proved that Friday night's lethargic performance against Genoa-Kingston was the exception, not the rule.

With the outright Big Northern East Conference championship hanging in the balance, the Rockets throttled host Marengo with suffocating full-court pressure from start to finish and posted an emphatic 64-38 victory Tuesday night in Homer "Bill" Barry Gymnasium.

Burlington Central (25-3, 13-1), which defeated Marengo 61-50 on January 8, forced the Indians (21-7, 11-3) into 20 turnovers and never trailed after grabbing a 7-6 lead late in the first quarter.

"After the loss last week at Genoa, we knew we had to come out as hard as we could and we definitely did that," said Rockets senior Ryan Fitzgerald, who scored his game-high 21 points in a variety of ways. "They played well, but I don't think they could match our intensity right off the bat."

"We really wanted to focus on some things defensively that we didn't feel like we did as well Friday night and we got things going our way early with the defense," added BC coach Brett Porto.

The Rockets' defense centered around hounding Marengo's 6-foot-1 senior guard Zach Knobloch, who was honored before the game as the Indians' all-time leading scorer with 1,781 career points.

Sophomore Zach Schutta earned the defensive assignment and followed Knobloch all around the court. On numerous occasions, Schutta forced him to drive into a host of waiting Rocket defenders in the paint.

Knobloch, who came in averaging over 22 points per game, finished with 19 points on 8-of-19 shooting, but took only one shot in the second quarter when the Rockets outscored Marengo 17-8 for a 27-15 halftime lead.

"That's a good matchup. Zach's played really good defense all year round and we knew he would be able to shut him down and that was key for us," Fitzgerald said.

"I know Knobloch probably finished with 20 or something, but we felt like he had to work really, really hard for those points," Porto said.

While Knobloch was forced to carry the offensive load for Marengo, especially after starting guard Michael Volkening left with a knee injury early in the second quarter, the Rockets had four players finish in double figures.

Schutta, who also grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds, connected on a trio of 3-pointers in an 11-point effort while Ethan Mayfield and Joey Ratzek added 10 points each.

"They played a similar 2-3 that Genoa gave us trouble with last week, so we were working hard against that in practice and we knew what kind of plays we needed to run to get points for everyone inside," Fitzgerald said.

The Rockets led by just 2 points with five minutes left in the opening half, but went on a 14-2 run to open up a 27-13 lead.

Fitzgerald scored 8 points during that stretch, displaying his versatility with a 13-foot jumper, a tip-in, a layup inside and a strong drive off a Marengo turnover.

Knobloch's third 3-pointer of the game pulled Marengo within 33-24 midway through the third, forcing Porto to call a timeout.

The Rockets responded with a stellar 12-2 run to close out the quarter with Ratzek completing a 3-point play off a steal and Schutta draining a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"We wanted to make sure our shot selection was good," Porto said. "After that point we did that and we were able to extend."

Fitzgerald pulled down 6 rebounds while Mayfield and Ratzek added 5 boards each.

"Winning the conference is a great feeling to have and it's a great win to get under our belts right before postseason," Fitzgerald said.

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