Burlington Central spots Dundee-Crown two touchdowns, storms back
Friday night's game between Burlington Central and Dundee-Crown had the makings of a rout in the first quarter.
D-C jumped out to a 14-0 lead and Burlington Central needed seven minutes to score its first basket.
However, the Rockets kept their composure and turned up the defensive intensity to pull out a 57-52 Fox Valley Conference victory.
Central's comeback started with that first basket, a Jake Lenschow layup. That started a 7-0 run to close out the quarter and cut the Chargers' lead in half, 14-7.
"Their zone was bothering us little bit early but the lack of defensive intensity for us started them with some easy buckets," Central coach Brett Porto said. "Once we got involved defensively, things kind of turned around. Those first couple of buckets, how we got them - a few turnovers and a few runouts it got our players energized and I think it started from there."
The Rockets continued to battle back in the second quarter and tied the game at 18 on two free throws by Gavin Sarvis with 3:36 left in the half.
Back-to-backup buckets by Ryan Hoder put D-C back in front, 22-18. Sarvis (13 points) responded with a putback and two free throws to give the host Rockets a 24-22 advantage at halftime.
The two teams battled in the third quarter. Twice in the frame, Central (16-8, 7-5) pulled ahead only to have D-C tie it. The second tie, 40-40, came on a Hodor bucket at the buzzer.
Rockets sophomore Zac Schmidt (10 points) tied the game for the fifth time - 46 all - with 4:09 to play in the game.
On D-C's next trip down the court, reserve Kennon Cook (12 points) put the Chargers back on top. Lenschow responded with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Rockets up for good. Lenschow led Rockets in scoring with 15 points.
"We were frustrated with ourselves in the first half, just not knocking down our shots but we controlled what we could which is our effort and energy," Lenschow said. "We got a couple of steals (in the second half) and the ball started going our way."
Two free throws by Ed Wells gave the Rockets a little breathing room, 51-48 with 1:16 left to play.
"Wells coming to the line when it was 49-48 and had a 1-on-1 - those were two clutch free throws," Porto said.
D-C (9-11, 4-6) was forced to foul and Central used the opportunity to pad its lead. The Rockets ended the game connecting on six of eight free-throws attempts.
"They made some key baskets, made their free throws and we did not," D-C coach Lance Huber said. "Ultimately that was probably the deciding factor of the ballgame."
Terrell Powell led D-C's offense with 15 points.
Joshua Hudgens scored 12 points for the Rockets.