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Burlington Central pulls away from Prairie Ridge in third quarter

A minute into Tuesday's third quarter, Burlington Central led Prairie Ridge 27-22. Then the Rockets hit another gear and rattled off the next 13 points to go up 40-22.

That held up as the final margin as Central rolled to the 55-37 Fox Valley Conference victory in Burlington.

Gavin Sarvis and Andrew Scharnowski combined for the first 11 points of the crucial run before Zac Schmidt's bucket finished it off.

Sarvis scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half for the Rockets (23-3, 13-0). Scharnowski scored 15 points and also grabbed 5 rebounds. Schmidt finished with 9 points, and Nick Carpenter added 7.

"I thought we came out and really picked it up on the defensive end," said Central coach Brett Porto. "We kind of set the tone there. That led right into us cutting, moving, screening better on the offensive end, and a bunch of guys started scoring buckets there and we just got it rolling."

The Rockets went up 6-0 early, but the Wolves battled back, taking their only lead at 11-10 on a 3-pointer by Sam Loeding.

Central answered with a 9-0 run during which 4 players scored. But the Wolves wouldn't go away, cutting their deficit to 5 on 3 occasions before the Rockets' big run broke the game open.

The Rockets outrebounded the visitors, 26-17, with 6 players grabbing at least 3 each, and forced 20 turnovers. Carson Seyller and Jake Johnson had 4 rebounds apiece.

No one hit double figures for Prairie Ridge. James Muse scored all 9 of his points in the second half and added 6 rebounds for the Wolves while Mason Loucks scored all 8 of his points in the first half.

Scharnowski started the big run with a layup. Sarvis scored off an assist from Seyller, and Scharnowski scored again. Sarvis added a layup and a 3-pointer.

The game moved swiftly after that, with the teams combining for just 4 free throws in the second half.

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