Burlington Central avenges loss to Dundee-Crown

There wasn't a 14-point lead surrendered in the final 2 minutes of regulation or overtime needed.

Even without starters Gavin Sarvis and Andrew Scharnowski along with sixth man Jake Johnson, Burlington Central was able to avenge last Saturday's gut-wrenching 56-54 overtime loss to Dundee-Crown in the finals of the Strombom Classic in Sycamore.

The short-handed Rockets, with great defensive intensity and balanced scoring, throttled the visiting Chargers 53-33 in Fox Valley Conference action in Burlington Friday night.

"That was a tough loss," said Central coach Brett Porto. "The kids really responded with a phenomenal defensive effort. We put an emphasis on defense and rebounding and we did both well. We have some injuries but we have a lot of depth."

Nick Carpenter, on 8-of-10 shooting, paced the Rockets with 16 points.

"That was a tough loss," said Carpenter, "We really were motivated for this game. This was a big win."

Matthew Lemon scored 11 points with a 3-pointer while Zac Schmidt and Carson Seyller scored 9 apiece for the Rockets (4-1, 2-0).

Schmidt, who absorbed a nasty fall on his back in fourth quarter but returned to the game after a short stint on the bench, also grabbed 9 rebounds.

"We learned from that loss to D-C," said Schmidt. "We sped up too much in the last 2 minutes and made too many turnovers. We were really motivated tonight. We have a lot of injuries but we have a lot of depth. We believe in next man up."

The Rockets displayed their unselfishness with 15 assists on 23 baskets.

Schmidt and Carpenter dealt out 5 apiece while Seyller had 3.

"We did a nice job of finding the open man." said Porto. "We had good team play."

Leading 25-14 at halftime, Central started the third quarter on an 8-2 run to take control of the game. Seyller scored 5 including a 3 and Trestan Wagner hit a trey as the Rockets led 33-16 with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

Tyler Di Silvio paced the Chargers (3-2, 0-2) with 7 points off the bench.

The Chargers made 12-of-40 from the floor for 30 percent and committed 13 turnovers.

"It was not a fun night for the Chargers players, the Chargers coaches and the Chargers fans," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. "They kicked our butts on the boards."