Burlington Central falls in Plano semifinals despite Mayfield's 39
Burlington Central defeated Peoria Notre Dame to win last year's Plano Christmas Classic, and the Irish got their chance for revenge Friday night in this year's semifinals of the 56th annual event.
Peoria Notre Dame did just that, scoring the first five points and never looking back, riding a balanced attack to a 73-52 victory.
Senior Patrick Mayfield did everything he could to keep the Rockets in the game with 39 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists.
"It was a great game (last year) and they were the better team," Irish coach Tom Lacher said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy this year. They lost a lot but Mayfield is unbelievable. It was an upset when he hit the rim."
Mayfield, who just missed his career high of 42 points set earlier this season, caught fire from beyond the arc, sinking 8 of 12. To start the second half, Mayfield scored 21 of his team's first 24 points with only a 3 from Braden Seyller sandwiched in.
"We knew he had to play like that to keep us in against Peoria Notre Dame," said Rockets coach Brett Porto. "We shot a few shots in the second half that we shouldn't have. The ball needs to go back in his hands when a guy's that hot and playing out of his mind like he was he needs more shots."
Mayfield has mostly attracted Division III interest but Porto said that needs to change.
"I think some Division I schools need to start checking him out," Porto said. "I've been doing this long enough, I've seen all the Division I players I've coached against in 10 years and he's just as good if not better than all those guys. We'll see what happens as the season goes on."
Trailing 54-35 late in the third quarter, Mayfield hit a 3 while being fouled and completed the 4-point play. He opened the fourth quarter with two more 3s to bring the Rockets within 59-45.
After banking in a short jumper, his final 3 was the highlight of the night. He crossed his defender who stumbled and fell while Mayfield stepped back and drilled the shot bringing the loudest reaction from the crowd.
It also brought the Rockets within 61-50 with four minutes to go. The Irish answered with a 12-0 run to put the game away.
"I faked like I was going right and he fell and then I crossed back and he fell again and I just shot it," Mayfield said. "I hit more 3s than I usually do. I just felt it so I kept shooting."
Mayfield hit 13 of 21 shots from the field; the only place he struggled was the line making 5-10, but no other Rocket attempted a free throw. The rest of the team combined to shoot 1 of 11 from 3 and 6 for 22 from the field. Nobody else had more than 4 points.
Contrast that to the Irish who placed four in double figures led by Connor Dillon with 19 points. Peoria Notre Dame shot 50.9 percent from the field, outrebounded the Rockets 32-18 and forced 15 turnovers while committing just seven.
"There were too many times we picked it up in poor spots instead of being aggressive off the bounce," said Porto, who tried a box-and-one among other defenses. "We tried doing things we wouldn't normally do to get them out of what they do. We got some players to shoot the ball we wanted to shoot the ball but they are just a talented group and you need to be almost perfect on offense to stay with them."
No. 2 seed Peoria Notre Dame (10-3) will face top seed Ottawa for the championship Saturday night. The Irish's three losses are by a total of 7 points.
The Rockets (9-4) play Northridge for third place at 6:30 p.m.