Sterling 75, Burlington Central 64

Burlington Central ran into a healthy Joseph Bertrand.

Ill and ineffective when the teams met in Burlington two weeks ago, Bertrand was at full strength Wednesday.

His 38 points led Sterling past the Rockets 75-64 in a semifinal of the Class 3A Freeport sectional.

Sterling will face Huntley for the sectional title Friday.

Mike McCurdy nearly matched Bertrand statistically, scoring 33 points.

Jason Wagner had 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Shane Larkin added 10 points for the Rockets.

Bertrand scored on drives to the basket and long 3-pointers, among other things.

"Last time we played them I thought he wasn't as aggressive," said McCurdy, who had the unenviable defensive assignment on Bertrand most of the night.

"But he was making his outside shots, and I didn't know how to guard him. If I come up on him he goes by me, if I get back he just shoots."

Bertrand had 25 points by halftime. He also had 8 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots.

"The biggest difference (from the first meeting) was Bertrand," said Rockets coach Chris Payne. "A great player decided to have a great game tonight.

"Defensively I don't think we played as well as we could, especially in the first half, but at the same time, there's not much you can do when he's making jump shots like that."

Burlington never led. The Rockets fell behind 25-17 after one quarter and trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half.

But then the Rockets (22-7) shot themselves back into the game.

A pair of 3-pointers by Jake McNutt and one by McCurdy keyed a 19-6 run in the fourth quarter.

A layup by Larkin on a McCurdy assist made it 69-62 with 1:21 left, but the Rockets could get no closer, as the Golden Warriors made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.

"The kids did a great job coming back," Payne said. "You knew this group would make a run sometime and they did. That's just a trait of this group, but we just got down by too much."

The game was a vastly different affair from the Rockets' 48-46 victory during the regular season.

"We're chameleons, we can bend and switch and do whatever we can to get the advantage on our side," said Sterling coach Peter Goff. "We did that tonight with (6-foot-2) Niko Rivera going down and playing in the post."

Rivera finished with 15 points for Sterling.