Burlington Central tops Harlem
While Burlington Central's boys basketball team bounced back from an overtime loss to Rockford Jefferson on Tuesday with a 70-49 win over Harlem at the 83rd Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament in DeKalb, it might want to thank its free throw shooting, or just Ray Hunnicutt's.
Hunnicutt sank 13 of 15 free throws for a game-high 23 points, nailing his first 11 from the stripe. Central totaled 22 for 32 at the line, drawing fouls with its menacing attack toward the hoop.
“We go to the line a lot,” Hunnicutt said. “We shoot a billion free throws everyday. You just got to have muscle memory, know when you're going to make 'em.
“With us, free throw shooting is always a key,” Rockets coach Brett Porto said. “When you're kind of a guard-oriented team, and when you knock them down at the line, you can frustrate the other team and extend your lead and we really took advantage of that.”
Harlem was frustrated, but the Rockets did so in other ways.
A 24-14 opening first quarter, where the Rockets (5-4) were 9 for 18 from the field, including 4 of 8 from downtown, may have been the igniter. Half of Sam Klein's 18 points came in the first as he hit 4 of 5 shots.
“It's big for us,” Klein said of the Rockets' first quarter launch. “We had a long game (Monday) and we wanted to come back today on fire early. We got a big jump early and kept with it, kept playing hard.”
Klein also grabbed 14 rebounds for a double-double.
Porto mentioned after the game, the Rockets' second quarter is their Kryptonite. It showed being outscored 16-14 by Harlem and being held to 33 percent shooting.
“I feel like we get a little bit on our heels when we come out, think the rest of the game is going to be easy,” Porto said. “It's the furthest thing from the truth. We got to learn how to play four quarters of basketball and the second quarter has been a real problem for us.”
Luckily against Harlem (5-5), which couldn't capitalize nor shoot its way back in it on 3 for 10 shooting in the second, wasn't threatening. After halftime, Burlington patiently got better shots. Burlington's lead increased to 17 after Hunnicutt sank 4 more free throws and a hit a layup off a pass from Thomas Fitzgerald, who came away with a steal to begin the sequence.
Harlem's Brenton Benedict scored 15 points all down in the post and at the line though his contributions couldn't stop the Rockets.
“They weren't able to stop him, we knew that going in,” said Harlem coach Chad Barger. “That was our game plan going in, to pound it into him, play inside-outside. We got away from that at times and that cost us the game.”
Central shot 44 percent overall and Ryan Ritchie was the third Rocket to go over double figures with 10 points.
Burlington will play Evanston in Pool C play today at 2 p.m.