Burlington Central 88, Harvard 60

Jason Wagner came up big for Burlington Central's boys basketball team Friday night.

The senior forward scored 25 of his 27 points in the first half as the Rockets routed Harvard, 88-60, to clinch at least a tie for the Big Northern East title.

With Mike McCurdy off to a slow start, Wagner stepped up nicely, scoring nearly half of the Rockets' 52 first-half points.

McCurdy came on in the second half and finished with 23. Shane Larkin scored 15 and Jake McNutt added 8 for the Rockets (18-6, 8-1).

After the Hornets took their only lead at 3-2, the Rockets reeled off 14 straight points (Wagner scored 7 points and assisted on another basket) and never looked back.

Harvard managed to hang around, trailing just 60-47 late in the third quarter. But the Rockets steadily pulled away thereafter.

"Jason was really ready to play tonight," said Central coach Chris Payne. "Michael (McCurdy) was struggling a little bit early and Jason took it upon himself to get us going offensively. He's been doing that the last couple of games. It's good to see that we have somebody else to go to offensively other than Michael."

The Rockets' defense forced 22 turnovers while Burlington committed just 5.

Central shot 49 percent for the game. They also shot well from the line. The starters missed just one free throw (14 of 15). The Rockets used their running game effectively, either getting layups or kickouts for open 3-pointers. Wagner hit 3 from long range and the Rockets made 6 as a team.

With Scott Thomas scoring 15 points and Jordan Gardner 13, the Hornets didn't go down without a fight, but they simply couldn't match the Rockets' athleticism.

Even when he wasn't scoring, McCurdy still drove the offense and the defense. He had 7 assists as well as 6 rebounds, and even a blocked shot to go with his 23 points.

"He kind of had a quiet 23 tonight," said Payne. "He got a lot of baskets in transition off of steals. I guess on a night when he gets 23 and we think he didn't play as well as he should, that's a good sign."

The Rockets host Sterling in a nonconference game Tuesday. They can wrap up the conference title outright by beating Marengo at home Friday.