Burlington Central 70, Marengo 39

Senior Night was fun for the Burlington Central boys basketball team.

But now the real work begins.

Central lit up its own gym Friday night for what is believed to be a school record 15 3-pointers and demolished Marengo 70-39 to claim its second straight outright Big Northern East championship. The Rockets are now 19-1 in the last two years in the BN-East.

"We wanted to make sure we played well tonight going into regionals next week," said Central coach Chris Payne, whose top-seeded team opens the Class 3A postseason Tuesday at Sycamore against the winner of Monday's play-in game between Sandwich and Kaneland.

"We have another goal we want to accomplish and that's to win a regional championship and that starts Tuesday."

The way the Rockets (20-6, 9-1) are playing there's no reason to think their postseason run can't be long. They've now won 8 of their last 9 games (only loss to 4A St. Charles North) and are 12-2 in 2008.

"I think we're playing our best basketball right now," said Payne, whose team notched the program's first 20-win season since 1998-99. "It was encouraging to get a win over Sterling this week and we always talk about playing our best basketball come regional time. I think we're doing that."

The Rockets certainly had their jets in high gear Friday night. They took 57 shots in the game, 34 of them from 3-point range. Before Payne let his reserves play the entire fourth quarter, the core group made 14 of 28 from 3-point range.

"We really focus on reversing the ball when teams play zone against us," said senior captain Jason Wagner, who led the way with 22 points and five 3-pointers. "We're really good 3-point shooters and tonight our shots were falling."

And how. Marengo (8-18, 5-5) withstood six Rocket 3-pointers in the first quarter and trailed just 18-14. But from there on Central left the Indians in the dust. BC held Marengo scoreless for the final 5:06 of the second quarter and rolled out to a 39-18 lead by halftime.

The third quarter was more of the same as Central nailed six more 3-pointers. By the end of the third quarter Central had a 64-27 lead, allowing Payne to play his bench the entire fourth quarter.

Senior Jake McNutt nailed six 3-pointers and had 20 points for the Rockets while steady senior Mike McCurdy had a complete all-around game with 16 points, 8 assists, 7 steals and 2 blocks.

"Jake and Jason really shot the ball well tonight and they've been doing that all year," said Payne. "I also thought (sophomore) Matt McCurdy played his best game since Christmas tonight and (junior) Mike Doty came in and gave us some good energy."

Wagner says he and his mates are ready for the postseason.

"In the locker room coach told us we have a legitimate shot of winning a sectional," he said. "Our hopes are really high but we're just going to take it one game at a time."

Brett Hall, a former Elgin resident who would have played at Larkin, led Marengo with 16 points.