Caden West’s 26 leads Burlington Central past Huntley

HUNTLEY – As he led his Burlington Central boys basketball team off the team bus once it arrived at Huntley for Friday Night’s Fox Valley clash with the host school, head coach Brett Porto had one simple response to whether or not it was ready to go.

“I’ll guess we’ll find in a couple of hours,” he said with a little laugh as he headed inside.

For both teams it was an important contest as each found themselves looking up at the top of the FVC standings as each trailed defending champion Crystal Lake South by one game in the loss column and McHenry by two games meaning that neither could afford to be behind three games out at evening’s end.

And as the Rockets coach was making his way back to Central down Route 47 he knew they were more than ready as it brought home a 54-48 win that allowed them to keep pace in the conference race as it moved its record to 5-2 in FVC play and 11-5 overall.

“They were coming to fight (tonight),” Rockets senior guard Caden West said of the challenge the hosts brought on their home floor. “They weren’t going to lay down and let us that ‘W’. They were fighting us for the ball. They had some good stretches, we had some good stretches, but we were able to keep it together.”

For West (game-high 26 points) and his teammates it was a victory that came from having the ability to put together one more surge for the Rockets as it used a decisive 16-5 run in the late stages of the second half to get the win after having survived a 15-3 tear by the Red Raiders that put them up on senior forward William Dillon’s three-point play with 90 seconds left in the third.

It was a response to a 14-1 run by the visitors during the final 3:55 of the opening half which put Burlington ahead 28-20 at the break.

It began as Central scored the final five points of the third on a Jacob Johnson triple and a Lucas Kerr hoop scoop that put them ahead 39-38 heading into the fourth.

After a Christian Wilson basket gave Huntley (7-9, 3-3) their final lead of the night, 40-39 at the 7:14 mark of the fourth, the duo of West and senior forward Patrick Shell (15 points) teamed up for 10 of Burlington’s next 11 points that left the Rockets up 50-43.

The Red Raiders would get no closer than 52-48 on senior guard Sheldon Bonsu’s fourth trey with 13 seconds left, which came in between four West charity tosses.

“They didn’t need a time-out. They got focused and executed well to get the lead back when we went down,” Porto said. “That was great to see. I think we got just a little bit outside of what we’ve been doing on both sides of the floor, but then they regrouped and got it going again.”

Bonsu’s 15 led Huntley followed by Wilson with 12 and Dillon with 11.

“When you dig yourself a hole like that it’s very difficult to get a (winning) result at the end because as they did (they) are as capable of making a run back at you,” Red Raiders Coach Collin Kalamatas said afterward.