/images/devices.png)
/images/newspaper.png)
/images/textalerts.png)
/images/newsletters.png)
Rockford Boylan edges Burlington Central 57-55
WOODSTOCK – Burlington Central forward Patrick Mayfield sat in shock amid pandemonium across the court.
A deafening roar enveloped the Woodstock North gym, as Rockford Boylan erupted in celebration having just gutted a 57-55 win over the Rockets in a Class 3A sectional final on Friday night.
Mayfield, a 6-foot-4 junior, was almost a hero for the Rockets.
Will Hough buried a 3-pointer seconds earlier, and Burlington Central had one final opportunity to tie or win with eight seconds left.
Mayfield drove past Boylan guard Jack Zuba, but two more Boylan players then collapsed in his path. Around the free throw line, Mayfield made his move – a jump and was falling to his left when the ball left his hands.
The rim denied its arc, as the ball dinked off the left iron. Inches separated the Rockets from a potential tie game, but the ball was volleyed out by Jake Bergstrom and Boylan (22-10) was left standing one victory away from state.
Burlington Central (28-4), in a season that featured a 20-game win streak and saw senior Zach Schutta become the program's all-time leading scorer, fell just short of its first sectional title.
"I never thought it would end like that, but it did," said Mayfield, who finished with 11 points. "I just thought about the next time I'm going to be playing with Burlington Central is in the summer...I won't play for them for eight months, and this is everything to me."
For Schutta, though, this was his last game. He is going on to college at Missouri, but will not play basketball.
He'll remember the final moments of a stellar high school career in slow motion.
"We almost had it. Good season, but we should be playing in the Sears Centre on Tuesday," Schutta said.
Rockford Boylan goes on to play North Chicago in Class 3A supersectional at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sears Centre. It's the Titans' 20 sectional title, first since 2015.
Tied 31-31 after a back-and-forth first half, Burlington Central went on a 7-0 run out of the break. But then Boylan's Ben Ambrose caught fire.
The 5-foot-10 senior guard scored nine of his 25 points in the third quarter. After an Ambrose rebound and score tied it 40-40, Boylan guard John Starck converted a layup before Mayfield hit a pair of free throws to tie it once again heading into the fourth quarter.
"My coaches just told me, and my teammates kept telling me 'just keep shooting the ball...eventually it's gonna go in'," Ambrose said.
Rockets guard Michael Kalusa (17 points) put the Rockets up five with a 3-pointer, but Boylan re-gained the lead 50-49 on a Bergstrom layup opposite a failed Mayfield drive amid heavy contact with 3:16 remaining.
Ambrose split a pair of free throws two times, with a Rockets guard Dejasni Beamon drive sandwiched in – preceding Hough's (seven points) three and the wild finish.
"[The seniors] left a legacy here. I think, they're what? 80-12 [over three years]," Burlington coach Brett Porto said. "These kids have really got this program going in a great direction."