Burlington Central bows out of regional
Not even Zach Romando's hot hand could lift Burlington Central to victory in Monday's Class 3A Kaneland regional play-in game against Sycamore.
The Rockets rallied from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to tie the game at 54 on Romando's fourth 3-pointer of the fourth quarter and eighth of the game, but the Spartans were able to regain a 4-point lead at the free throw line and held on for a 66-61 victory.
No. 4 Sycamore (12-14) advances to face No. 1 DeKalb in a semifinal today at 7:30 p.m. No. 5 Burlington Central ended its season with an overall record of 13-14.
Junior Sam Ford led all scorers with 25 points and senior Harlan Johnson had 21 for the Spartans, who regularly beat the Rockets down the floor for 18 points directly related to their transition counterattack.
"Burlington is very aggressive in the frontcourt," Sycamore coach Jeff Hillmer said. "They go to the glass very aggressively. We felt we could use that aggressiveness against them if we could get the rebound, hit seams and run guys out. Some of our guys are a little more athletic in transition, so we tried to take advantage of that."
The running game wasn't the only aspect of Sycamore's offense that clicked.
"Their offense basically comes down to three things: putbacks, transition and penetration," Central coach Brett Porto said. "Those are three things we really tried to stop tonight. For whatever reason, and we tried some different things to try to stop it, we just didn't get those three things done defensively tonight.
"And they did a good job of doing what you're supposed to do at the free throw line."
The Spartans sank 22 of 25 from the line compared to 6 of 8 for Central.
After Romando's 3-pointer tied the game, seniors Adam Schmitt and Josh Reed each converted a pair of bonus free throws to restore Sycamore's lead to 4 points with 2:19 left. Central twice trimmed the deficit to a point, the last time on sophomore Ray Hunnicutt's putback with 1:09 remaining, but Johnson's pair from the line edged the Spartans ahead 62-59 with 54 seconds left.
Central missed a pair of 3-pointers on its next possession, Sycamore got the rebound and split 4 more free throws before Hunnicutt's lefty drive pulled the Rockets within 64-61 with 7 seconds on the clock. However, Johnson's breakaway layup against the Central press capped the victory for the Spartans with 4.8 second to go.
Romando was the catalyst in Central's comeback. He finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting from 3-point range.
"It's my last game. I had to go out with a bang," Romando said. "My last couple of games I hadn't been shooting well. As coach says, you need to shoot with confidence. I could miss 20 in a row but still have the confidence. I just go out and do what I do."