Burlington Central stuffs Sandwich
If it takes a little time for Burlington Central's offense to click this year while replacing four starters, at least the Rockets can rely on their defense.
Brett Porto's squad clamped down on Sandwich Wednesday afternoon at Sycamore's Strombom Holiday Tournament, holding the Indians to 2 points over a 12-minute stretch to start the second half on their way to a 54-27 victory.
"We're a little bit different defensively but all our principals are the same," Porto said. "Our length and having two, three, four guys who can guard the ball like we like to guard it has been key for us defensively early on. It's been nice to see so far."
Burlington Central (2-0) can complete a perfect pool play record Friday night against Genoa-Kingston and advance to Saturday's championship. The Rockets won this tournament in 2015 and 2016 before South Elgin took last year's title.
Patrick Mayfield is the lone returning starter from Burlington Central's 28-4 campaign last year. After scoring 33 points in Tuesday's win, Mayfield had 15 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday.
"I think we have a lot of confidence in the locker room with a great returner like Pat," senior Logan Andersen said. "There's a lot of room to grow and there's a chance we could go pretty far this year."
Andersen came off the bench to help the Rockets shake off a slow start against Sandwich (1-1), scoring 8 of his 10 points in the second quarter.
Leading just 14-13, Andersen sank a 3-pointer from the corner, then converted a 3-point play for a 20-15 lead before hitting a pair of free throws. The Rockets led 26-19 at halftime.
"I would say my strength is the 3 so I just fired it up," Andersen said. "I got to the line a few times and was able to sink a few free throws and that really got my confidence up."
Senior Braden Seyller sparked the Rockets' 20-2 third quarter with an early steal to start a fast break which ended with Seyller throwing an alley-oop that Mayfield laid in.
"Defense always leads to points," Seyller said. "Just wanted to get something going. Obviously we started going after that."
Seyller drained a 3-pointer to keep the run going and assisted Josh Hudgens to make it 35-21. Seyller made one more 3 before freshman Zac Schmidt capped the third quarter with a drive for a 46-21 lead after three quarters.
Porto was able to give his bench several minutes in the fourth quarter with Kyle Fischer, Edward Wells and Joe Blakley all scoring to finish a 28-8 advantage in the second half.
"A lot of people are underestimating us this year and we just want to prove to them we can go just as far as last year's team, maybe farther," Seyller said.
Hudgens added 11 points and Seyller chipped in 9 points and 2 steals for the Rockets, who outrebounded Sandwich by 14 and committed only 4 turnovers while playing short-handed without starter Jake Lenschow.
"Everything is new for us and new for them," Porto said. "Just trying to piece it together. I kind of have an idea of where it will go once Jake is good. It's really nice right now trying to figure out the puzzle."