Burlington Central 46, Sterling 44

Some basketball coaches would call timeout and set up a play.

But that also allows the opponent an opportunity to set up its defense.

So when Sterling tied the game with eight seconds left Tuesday night, Burlington Central coach Chris Payne didn't bother calling one of his remaining timeouts. It worked two weeks ago against St. Charles East. And it worked again Tuesday.

Mike McCurdy drove the length of the floor and hit a game-winning layup at the buzzer as the Rockets defeated Sterling 46-44 in nonconference play in Burlington.

"When you have someone like Michael, you don't want to stop the game," Payne said. "You just want to get it in to him and tell him to go make a play. He did again tonight."

McCurdy missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 19.6 seconds remaining with Central (19-6) leading 44-42.

Niko Rivera grabbed the rebound for the Warriors (18-8). Joseph Bertrand, a junior who is committed to Illinois, tied the game with a jumper in the lane with eight seconds left.

McCurdy received the in-bounds pass, ran down the right side of the court, cut toward the middle and hit a layup. After the buzzer sounded, McCurdy's teammates mobbed him near the basket.

"Nothing's really going through my head, just get the ball forward and get a shot off," McCurdy said. "I got to the middle and there was an open lane."

Central grabbed the early lead by hitting its first five 3-point attempts. The Rockets led by as many as 7 in the first half. But the Warriors' triangle-and-two defense cut McCurdy and Jason Wagner's looks at the basket in the second half, forcing others to take a shot.

Most of the time in the third quarter, that player was Jake McNutt. The senior guard missed his first eight 3-point attempts of the quarter before finally hitting one with 42 seconds left. That was the Rockets' first field of the quarter as the Warriors rallied to tie the game 29-29 heading to the fourth.

"I have to give my kids credit. They came out and played that triangle and two. We've worked on that one time," Sterling coach Peter Goff said.

McCurdy scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds. Wagner added 11 points, all in the first half. McNutt finished with 9 points, on 3-for-16 shooting from 3-point land, all but 2 attempts coming in the second half.

Bertrand, who was suffering from the flu, led Sterling with 13 points. Rivera added 10 points and 13 rebounds.

The teams could meet again in the Class 3A Freeport sectional semifinals if both teams win their respective regionals. Both teams are No. 1 seeds in their regional.

"We've really got our work cut out for us (at the Sycamore regional)," Payne said. "We'll play two real good teams there."