Jake Johnson, Burlington Central celebrate at NOW Arena

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Tuesday night wasn’t the first time that Burlington Central senior Jake Johnson shot baskets and had fun on the court at NOW Arena.

Last summer, Johnson attended the birthday party of teammate LJ Kerr’s younger brothers, twins Camden and Ty, at the multipurpose facility.

“We did a scrimmage with some friends here, and that was cool,” Johnson said.

Central’s game against host Cary-Grove was cooler for Johnson, the Rockets' 6-foot-4 forward. He and Kerr celebrated again, and this time the entire Central team did. The Rockets pulled away in the second half en route to a 57-40 win in a Fox Valley Conference game played on the home court of the Windy City Bulls, the Chicago Bulls' G League affiliate.

“Playing with the team here was awesome,” Johnson said as his teammates posed for pictures on the court. “It’s not even packed. You can hear stuff, like echoes. It’s nice. It liked it. Bigger court, though. It’s much different, much more running. You don’t notice that you’re running farther, but you feel it in your lungs. You get tired.”

Central (13-5, 6-2 FVC) had ample stamina. Patrick Shell scored a game-high 19 points for the Rockets, while Johnson added 12 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Patrick Magan also scored 12 points for Central, which stretched its winning streak to a season-best four games.

“It was really fun,” Shell said after shooting 8 of 13 from the floor, while adding four rebounds and two steals. “It was a whole different experience from playing in a high school gym. Playing in an arena like this is really cool because this is where we want to be for the supersectionals.”

Cary-Grove (13-6, 3-4) trailed only 24-23 at halftime but threw away the inbounds pass to start the second half, then missed three layups, including two that were uncontested on breakaways, in the first couple of minutes. When Kerr (six points, three steals) knocked down the first of his two 3-pointers, it capped a 7-0 run to start the half for Central and extended its lead to 31-23 with 5:53 to go.

“We had momentum-changing plays. We were right there, and we missed a couple,” Trojans coach Adam McCloud said. “It’s flukey stuff, but that adds up. They’re a good defensive team, they make it difficult, and they made more plays than we did.”

Central led by as many as nine points in the third, but AJ Berndt (team-high 12 points) helped rally the Trojans, going on a personal 6-0 run that included a steal and layup and another layup after a steal by Justice German.

German fed Brady Bauer (six points) for a layup to get C-G within 38-36 with 31 seconds left in the quarter. But Johnson’s jumper beat the buzzer after 5-7 sophomore Ryan Carpenter chased down an offensive rebound.

The Rockets then dominated the fourth, outscoring the Trojans 17-4. Magan scored seven points, including his second 3-pointer. When Shell fed Magan for a layup with 2:38 left, Central’s lead was 55-38.

“I think we were moving the ball more in the second half,” Shell said. “I feel like in the first half we were scoring more on the first side [of the court]. Our halftime talk was about scoring on the second side, like keep moving the ball, getting everyone to touch the ball, and then talking more on defense.”

Rockets coach Brett Porto said he thinks his team’s identity is “five guys being connected on both ends,” and the Rockets demonstrated that particularly in the second half as every starter scored at least one basket.

“When we play to our identity on both ends, we’re a pretty darn good basketball team,” Porto said. “There are just stretches where sometimes maybe we stay on only one side of the offense, or the ball doesn’t touch as many people’s hands as it should, or defensively we may gamble a little too much.”

Porto was thrilled that his four seniors – Johnson, Kerr, Shell and Caden West – got the opportunity to play on a professional court.

“Getting an experience like this for them and our whole program is a really nice thing,” Porto said. “Very pleased and happy that [the schools] set that up.”

Adam Bauer scored all nine of his points in the first half for C-G. Dylan Dumele had nine points coming off the bench for the Trojans.