Hinsdale Central cools off hot-shooting Burlington Central, moves into its tournament semifinals

HINSDALE – With his team down seven midway through the third quarter, Nick Latorre told his Hinsdale Central team during a timeout that everything starts with a defensive stop.

The highly successful long-time coach obviously knows what he is talking about.

Holding a hot-shooting Burlington Central team to just one field goal the rest of the period, the host Red Devils began what turned into a 23-5 spurt to seize control of an eventual 70-65 quarterfinal win in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

In winning its eighth game in a row, Hinsdale Central (10-2) advances to Saturday’s semifinal against Niles North.

“We are known as a defensive team,” said senior guard Dillon Orozco, who led all scorers with 22 points. “That’s the culture we have built here in this program. We knew in the first half that we didn’t live up to our expectations on the defensive end. Our coaches were telling us that we needed to bear down. I thought we stayed together and I thought our leadership was excellent. We did bear down and we got major stops in the fourth quarter that led us to this win.

“For us, it all starts in practice. I think we are one of the hardest working teams in the state. We always practice hard and we push each other every day to be better. We want to win as a team, that’s our only goal. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit, we just want to win.”

Orozco scored 15 of his points in the first half before knocking down one of his five trifectas near the end of the third to give the Red Devils the lead for good at 47-46. That capped off a 10-2 run after the Rockets (8-4) had taken their biggest lead at 44-37 on a three-pointer by LJ Kerr.

A basket by Vince Buzelis would begin the fourth and Dillon Dell would soon follow with a trio of 3-pointers as the Red Devils' advantage swelled to as many as nine. Buzelis scored 15 points in the second half, 10 in the third, to finish with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“Coming out of that timeout (when trailing 44-37), we huddled up as players,” said Buzelis, a University of South Dakota-recruit, “and we said we are not going to let them get easy buckets. They are going to have to hit tough shots. We really communicated and did everything well as a team (the rest of the way). Their (Burlington Central) program is very respected. They trust their coaches and they trust their program and they all know their role.

“We have great chemistry on and off the court and that really helps us.”

Dell totaled 11 points and Eric Kozys had seven for Hinsdale Central, which beat Plainfield East 64-35 in the opening round.

“Burlington Central does such a good job with preparation,” said Latorre, whose team’s two losses came by a combined five points to Rockford Guilford and Glenbard West. “They are so well-coached and they believe they can win every game. And they play really, really hard. I knew it would be a close game, their kids play with no fear.

“That was a good win for our program, it’s nice to go up against a different style (of play). They play a unique style, especially offensively. What I kept harping on is that we needed to play tougher. They play really gritty and we needed to get in the mud and wrestle with them. I thought we did that better in the second half.”

Caden West topped Burlington Central, which took a 32-28 lead into halftime, with 16 points. Jacob Johnson, Patrick Magan and Kerr had 12 apiece and Patrick Shell also checked into double figures with 11.

“They are a handful to guard,” said Rockets coach Brett Porto, whose team began the tournament with a 56-54 decision over Marian Catholic. “And then when they have a role player who gets hot from three, they are almost impossible to guard. I liked how we battled, this group battles all of the time. We feel like we are never out of it.

“That is the hope, you hope you learn from every possession and every quarter. Hopefully we come out and play with the same effort and intensity tomorrow.”