Burlington Central's defense smothers Dundee-Crown

Good things happen when you take twice as many shots as your opponent.

Burlington Central's suffocating defensive pressure forced Dundee-Crown into 34 turnovers and paved the way for a convincing 71-50 victory Wednesday afternoon at the Sycamore Leland G. Strombom Tournament.

Point guard TaVontae Harris connected on three 3-pointers in a game-high 17 point performance for the Rockets (2-0) while Ryan Fitzgerald and Mike Kalusa chipped in 14 points each.

Jack Orndahl and Brandon Barber paced Dundee-Crown with 9 points apiece.

"The way coach had the press set up, we forced them into a double trap and that's why we were able to get a lot of steals on defense," Harris said. "We just have to keep playing together as a team and keep moving forward."

"I would like to see us finish a little bit more around the rim, but our effort was good all night," Rockets' coach Brett Porto said. "We were able to cause some turnovers and get our offense going when our spacing wasn't all that great."

Burlington Central took 71 shots from the field to just 35 for Dundee-Crown. The Chargers (0-2) shot over 50 percent, connecting on 18 of those attempts, but need to find a way to hold onto the basketball.

"If you only get a shot off once every two times down the court, then you're not going to win any games. It doesn't matter what you do," said Chargers' coach Lance Huber. "I'd like to see us cut down on the dribble and pass to our guys. We have a tendency on relying on one guy to do the work and we can't do that."

Dundee-Crown got off to a strong start, grabbing an 8-7 lead behind 6 points from Holden Carlson.

However, the Rockets ripped off the next 15 points and never trailed after that. Luke McCurdy completed a 3-point play with Harris and Kalusa scoring 5 points each during that 3-minute flurry.

The Rockets led 41-24 at halftime and extended the lead to as many as 27 points in the second half. Fitzgerald heated up with 10 of his 14 points, scoring both inside and on the perimeter.

Zach Schutta finished with 9 points for Burlington and McCurdy had 8.

"We were moving the ball around really well in the second half," Fitzgerald said. "Our guards played an excellent game and everyone played well overall."

"I feel like we have a real unselfish team and we have guys who can make shots and penetrate," Porto said. "If we're going to be good, we have to be able share the basketball."

Dundee-Crown was outscored just 30-24 in the second half and 11 different players finished with points.

"I don't want us to play for moral victories. We have a lot of things to work on and I want our guys to get better," Huber said. "I thought we did some things better in the second half and we can build on that."