Burlington Central's comeback nets win over Genoa
Ray Hunnicutt and the Burlington Central boys basketball team have been in enough close games to know anything can happen until the final buzzer sounds.
The Rockets were down 7, 68-61, with 2½ minutes remaining Friday night to Genoa-Kingston, but there was no panic. Central scored the final 11 points of the game to rally for a 72-68 Big Northern East victory over the Cogs in Burlington.
"We kept fighting and scrapping," Hunnicutt said. "Once we got the lead, just played defense and held them down."
The lead changed six times in the first quarter and G-K led 22-19 after the opening 8 minutes. The game was tied at 33-33 with just over minute remaining in the first half. The Cogs got baskets from Adam Price and Matthew Rasmussen in the final minute to take a 37-33 halftime lead.
G-K scored the first 8 points of the second half to extend the lead to 45-33. It was 48-36 when Central (15-9, 6-2) went on an 11-0 run to get within 1, 48-47. Hunnicutt had 5 points and Ryan Minehart and Ryan Ritchie each hit a 3-pointer during the run.
"Early in the year we would have given up on this," Hunnicutt said. "With the team we have now, we're fighting for everything. When we get down, we don't give up."
The Cogs led by 2, 63-61, with 3:20 remaining in the game and then am offensive rebound and putback from Rasmussen and a 3-pointer from Mason Lucca to go up 7, 68-61, with 2:33 left.
Central's rally began with a 3-pointer from Charles Horton. Bryce Warner hit 1 of 2 free throws. Malik Harris tied the game at 68-68 with a 3-pointer with a minute remaining. That came after the Cogs missed a wide-open layup that would have given G-K a 5-point lead. Instead it was a tie game.
"I think that shows how much he's grown," Central coach Brett Porto said of the junior Harris' shot. "He hit a couple of big shots for us in the second half."
Hunnicutt had a steal, was fouled and hit both free throws with 50.9 seconds remaining to give the Rockets their first lead, 70-68, since 13-12 with 2:45 left in the first quarter. G-K had three opportunities to tie or take the lead in the final 35 seconds but could not convert. Hunnicut then hit two more free throws with 7 seconds remaining to seal the Rockets' seventh win in their last eight games.
"We battled the whole way," Porto said. "At times our mental toughness wasn't that good. But when it comes down to it, we had just enough tonight to pull this one out."
Hunnicutt led the Rockets with 25 points and 10 rebounds. The senior now has 1,455 career points, 50 points away from becoming the school's all-time leading scorer. Gavin Schairer scored 1,504 points. Ritchie added 17 points, hitting 3 3-pointers. Clint Creal had 10 points, 8 in the first quarter, and 6 rebounds. Harris had 8 points.
Rasmussen had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Cogs. Lucca finished with 18 points, but only 5 after the first quarter. Sal Lopez had 11 points off the bench.