Burlington Central loses on buzzer-beater

Burlington Central did about everything it could do defensively on Richmond-Burton's last shot. With the game tied at 50, BC forced Richmond's Donald Thomas into a 24-foot shot with a hand in his face as time expired.

Thomas's shot hit nothing but net, and the Richmond Rockets escaped Burlington with a 53-50 victory and a share of the Big Northern East boys basketball title with Hampshire, while spoiling Central's Senior Night.

Mike Doty's 3-pointer with 20 seconds left had forced the tie. Doty then blocked Chad Blanton's attempt with 5 seconds left, but Richmond got the ball out of bounds. Blanton took the inbounds pass, then found Thomas at the top of the key.

Burlington Central led 45-41 with 6 minutes left, but the Central Rockets didn't hit another field goal until Doty's shot. Meanwhile, Richmond went on a 9-2 run to take the lead.

Ray Hunnicutt scored 15 points and Mark Mastio added 13 for Burlington (12-13, 6-4), which will play Sycamore Monday night in the opening round of the BC Class 3A regional.

"On that inbounds play, they did what we wanted them to do, throw it away from the basket," said Central coach Chris Payne. "They just threw one in on us."

Shane Larkin had 8 points and 6 rebounds for Central, while Doty finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Matthew Clary led Richmond with 15 points. Blanton finished with 13 and Thomas 12.

With Mastio and Larkin hot early, Burlington raced out to an 11-4 lead, but Richmond caught up. The lead changed hands 3 times in the second quarter. In an eerie bit of foreshadowing, Richmond's Kyle Wismer nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before halftime. The shot completed a 9-0 run and gave R-B a 33-31 halftime edge.

Richmond made 8 3-pointers for the game, while Burlington nailed 7.

Richmond-Burton finished the regular season 17-9, 9-1.