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Burlington Central's 19-game win streak all about team play

These are record-breaking times for the Burlington Central boys basketball team.

The Rockets survived 64-60 in a tense Kishwaukee River Conference matchup against Marengo on Tuesday to run their school-record winning streak to 19.

Central (22-2, 9-0) hasn't dropped a game in over two months. Its last setback was a 51-50 nonconference loss to Nazareth Academy on Dec. 3.

The Rockets are playing team basketball, led by the program's all-time leading scorer, Zach Schutta. The 6-foot-1 senior guard scored 21 points in Tuesday's win to tie 2012 graduate Ray Hunnicutt with 1,522 points.

"It means a lot knowing this is my last game on my home court," Schutta said Tuesday after he tied the record on Senior Night. "I would have liked to break it, but it's still a pretty unbelievable feeling."

Schutta generally downplays individual accomplishments in favor of team accomplishments. He is more proud, coach Brett Porto said, of the fact he has won more games in a Central uniform (88) than any player in school history.

Schutta averages 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, shoots 45 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range (53 of 156).

The most prolific scorer in school history has lots of help. Junior Patrick Mayfield, a 6-foot-4 guard, averages 15.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He is the leading 3-point shooter at 42 percent (26 of 62).

Senior Michael Kalusa averages 9 points and 3.4 rebounds and plays tough defense. The 6-foot-2 guard leads the Rockets with 73 steals.

Senior point guard Dejsani Beamon contributes 6 points and a team-best 4.5 assists per game His assists-to-turnover ratio is slightly better than 2:1.

The team gets dependable contributions from seniors Will Hough (2.7 ppg, 3 rpg), Caden Scott (4.2, ppg, 3.5 rpg) and Javyon Johnson (2.4 rpg) and 6-2 sophomore Jake Lenschow (4.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg),

"It's another testament to this group," Porto said of the winning streak. "It's just a lot of seniors locked in, a lot of underclassmen pushing them in practice, being focused for a lot of games, executing. I mean, that's a long stretch where there's games like (Tuesday) where you never know what's going to happen. To always come out on that end really shows how they've prepared, how they've worked and the type of focus and effort they've put in."

The Rockets will seek their 20th straight win Friday night in a KRC game at Johnsburg, a team they beat 74-48 Jan. 23. Then on Saturday comes an ultra-tough test when BC travels to Class 4A Batavia (19-7).

Healing up: One of the biggest question marks heading down the stretch is whether or not Jacobs will get injured senior Ryan Phillips back in time for postseason play.

Phillips, a three-year varsity guard averaging 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, broke a metacarpal on his right ring finger in the first half of a win at Hampshire on Feb. 2. He had surgery on Feb. 8 to implant a plate and screw to stabilize the bone. The recovery time is three to five weeks.

"It's terrible timing, obviously," said Phillips, who is 50 points shy of 1,000 for his career. " It's tough with everything that's going on my senior year and the things we're getting accomplished. I'm trying to stay positive with all of it. It's hard but I'm trying to get back as fast as I can. We'll just have to see how this whole thing works out."

Phillips gets the stitches out next week and will begin wearing a Velcro brace, he said.

Jacobs (21-3, 13-0) has won 7 straight overall, including 3 in a row without Phillips in the lineup. The Golden Eagles clinched a share of their fourth consecutive Fox Valley Conference title on Tuesday. Still, the team misses one of its senior leaders.

"It's been really, really hard because of the kid he is and the relationship him and I have and the relationship he has with this program," Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said. "This is his and their time so it's been really, really hard. But him and his parents have been really great about 'Let's play. We're going to do whatever we can to play.' Some families and parents are like that and some aren't. We're going to be safe with it, but his mindset his good."

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