Burlington Central claims Sycamore crown

Defense allowed the Burlington Central boys basketball team capture a title it hasn't snagged in 18 years.

The Class 3A Rockets held Rockford Jefferson - a Class 4A sectional semifinalist a year ago - to 35.3 percent shooting (18 of 51) and they forced 13 turnovers to win the Leland G. Strombom Tournament at Sycamore Saturday.

Burlington Central (4-0) held each of its four tournament opponents to 50 points or less and an average of 47 points.

"Our defense was really tight the whole tournament through," said Central 6-foot-3 senior forward Luke McCurdy. "I don't think a lot of teams were expecting us to come out like that on the defensive end, create turnovers and turn defense into offense."

The Sycamore title is the first for Burlington Central (4-0) since 1997, when coach Dave Gilliland's team prevailed against Rochelle behind 21 points and 10 rebounds from 6-foot-5 center Bill Hargraves and 10 points from T.J Sportsman.

These Rockets accomplished the same feat with a balanced effort, propelled by 16 points and 6 rebounds from sophomore guard Zach Schutta, 13 points and 12 rebounds from senior center Ryan Fitzgerald, McCurdy's 10 points and 9 points and 4 assists from junior guard TaVontae Harris.

"We talked about it a lot, that no one from Central has won this since 1997," Central coach Brett Porto said. "I think these kids took that to heart and they're excited they made a little bit of history at this tournament for our school."

Central fell behind by a point twice in the second quarter, but an 8-0 burst, fueled by buckets from Schutta, Fitzgerald, McCurdy and junior Joey Ratzek (7 points), put the Rockets ahead for good. They led 25-18 at the half, 35-28 after three quarters and never let the J-Hawks (3-1) closer than 4 points in the fourth quarter.

Jefferson cut its deficit to 47-42 on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Quillin Dixon (11 points) with 2:48 to play, but Central put it away with consecutive drives by Harris and McCurdy and a Harris free throw, each the result of a defensive stop at the other end.

"Our offense comes from our defense," Schutta said. "We had to stay in the gap on penetration, front the post and be on the help side when they dished it in."

The J-Hawks made only 3 of 17 attempts from 3-point range and the Rockets won the rebounding battle 34-27.