Burlington Central advances past Wheaton Academy
Playing on the road amid a raucous atmosphere, Burlington Central made itself right at home Friday night.
Behind a stingy defense that held the host Warriors to a pair of field goals in the first half, the Rockets prevailed 57-45 to capture the Class 3A Wheaton Academy regional title.
Improving to 25-8 on the winter, Burlington Central advances to the Marengo sectional to square off against a familiar foe in Johnsburg. The two conference rivals have already met twice this season, with each notching a victory.
"We executed the game plan, the game plan our coaches had us do," said senior Patrick Mayfield, who led all scorers with 28 points, one above his season average. "We played really good defense. We held them to 14 points in the first half and when you hold a team to 14 points in a half, you are going to win a lot of those games. And then we made a bunch of our free throws."
The visitors jumped out of the gate quickly, scoring the first 9 points and later led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. That advantage swelled to 27-14 by half, thanks to 12 points from Mayfield, which included a steal and breakaway dunk.
Wheaton Academy made a run late in the third quarter, outscoring the Rockets 11-4 in the closing minutes to pull within 8 heading into the fourth. But Burlington Central responded with a 12-3 spurt to push the deficit back to double figures. The visitors made eight free throws in the final quarter and 22 for the game.
"They are a good team," said Wheaton Academy junior Marcus Bult, who topped the Warriors with 15 points. "We fought hard and gave it all we had. They just outplayed us overall. We are all going to miss each other but it was a great season. And we have a bright future."
Oluwatobi Sonuga knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and scored 12 points and Jack Dykema had 8 for the Warriors, who finish with a record of 19-9. Wheaton Academy also won its second straight conference title.
"We came out kind of slow and they came out fast," Wheaton Academy coach Steve Thonn said. "Our shots just weren't falling in the first quarter and the first half. But overall, it was a great season and I'm really proud of the guys. A lot of guys who had to step up, they really stepped up."
Mayfield added 9 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot for Burlington Central. Jake Lenschow contributed 12 points.
"I was here last year and to go back-to-back (regional titles) is hard," Lenschow said. "The atmosphere was loud and our students and our fans helped us out a lot. We've been playing better team defense the last couple of weeks. That put us in a good spot and then we just had to close it out."
The Rockets forced the home team into 10 turnovers in the second half, which helped thwart any comeback hopes.
"We really buckled down defensively," Burlington Central coach Brett Porto said. "That is where we won it today. We did a few silly things in the second half but our defense was consistent for 32 minutes.
"Wheaton Academy is very talented at several positions and we wanted to do our best to keep them out of the paint."