Burlington Central shuts down Johnsburg

Zach Schutta has the perfect sounding name for a player a team wants to come in off the bench and provide an offensive spark.

But the Burlington Central freshman sixth man showed he is more than just a shooter. Schutta and senior Drew Wiss also provided some shutdown defense in Friday night's 47-39 Big Northern East boys basketball victory at Johnsburg.

"Our offense will pick it up, but our offense has to come from our defense," Schutta said after matching his career high with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting.

"I think we're a great offensive team, but defense is the key to our game," Wiss said after scoring 9 points. "If we play good defense we're going to play good offense. I think we can shut down teams a lot."

Schutta and Wiss were up to that task for the Rockets (6-2, 2-0) as they took turns limiting dangerous Johnsburg (4-3, 1-1) guard Luke Lobermeier to 4 points on 2-for-5 shooting. When Lobermeier gave up the ball he had a tough time getting it back with Schutta and Wiss in full denial.

"I felt when we scouted them that he makes them go," said BC coach Brett Porto. "He's a smooth ballhandler and there isn't much he does poorly. We made him a point of emphasis and did a good job of taking him on."

Lobermeier's only points came on a jumper late in the first half and a breakout off a steal to put the Skyhawks up 33-32 with 1:17 left in the third. Wiss countered with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer 11 seconds later to put the Rockets ahead to stay.

"I like it a lot," Wiss said of his stopper role. "It's fun ... and if you're playing bad on the offensive side, you can always pick it up on defense."

Schutta hit both of his 3s and had 3 assists as the Rockets recovered from a 3-for-16 shooting start to make 15 of their last 29 attempts. Johnsburg 6-foot-5 junior Michael Shelton scored 9 first-half points after hitting a 3 but the 6-foot Schutta spent significant time keeping him scoreless the rest of the way.

"I would say I'm a diverse defender," Schutta said.

"He is getting more and more confidence every game, as you can imagine for a 14-year-old," Porto said. "Early in the year we've put him in the role of shutting people down. He's done pretty well with it and responded to it." Johnsburg got within 38-37 on a 3 by Michael Rackow with 6:40 left. But senior Stefan Jochum (11 points) answered with a 3 off 1 of 4 assists by Luke McCurdy.

The only shot the Skyhawks made in their final 8 attempts was a rebound basket by Tanner Kreassig (14 points, 8 rebounds) to make it 43-39 with 2:42 left. Jocum found Wiss for a layup and McCurdy hit 2 free throws to seal it for the Rockets.

"We had a game plan and we executed it pretty well," Schutta said after Johnsburg shot 36.7 percent from the field (16-for-45) and 2-for-14 on 3s. "We shut (Lobermeier) down."