McCurdy's heroics lift Burlington Central

Burlington Central's Mike McCurdy drives past Devin Johnson of Sterling.
(Shauna Bittle/Courier News)

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Chalk up yet another impressive victory against a top-notch opponent for Mike McCurdy and the Burlington Central Rockets.

With a potential sectional semifinal rematch looming next month, the Rockets escaped with a thrilling 46-44 nonconference win Tuesday against Sterling and Illinois-bound guard Joseph Bertrand.

With the game on the line, both teams had the ball in their go-to players' hands, and for a few fleeting moments it appeared Bertrand would be the hero.

Despite battling a case of the flu, the 6-foot-5 junior drained a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to pull the Golden Warriors within 44-42. When McCurdy missed the front end of a one-and-one moments later, Bertrand struck again, drilling a runner in the lane to tie the score with six seconds left.

However, it was McCurdy who was pumping his fist in celebration in the end. After taking the ball the length of the floor with no timeouts and splitting two defenders near the basket, McCurdy converted the game-winning layup at the buzzer to set off a frenzied celebration.

McCurdy finished with a game-high 16 points, but felt nothing but relief after missing two free throws in the final minute and going only 2 of 7 from the line on the night.

"Nothing was really going through my head other than to get the ball up the court and get a shot off," McCurdy said. "It happened so fast, but I knew I had to do something after (two) missed free throws in a row."

For Central (19-6), the victory marked another display of perseverance against a team with arguably more talent. Sterling (18-8) came in receiving votes in the Class 3A state poll, and like the Rockets, the Warriors own a No. 1 seed going into their upcoming regional.

Nonetheless, the Rockets were able to come out on top despite being outrebounded 48-26 and making only 18 of 54 (33.3 percent) of their shots from the field.

"Obviously you watch them warm up and watch us warm up, and you probably wouldn't think it would be a very close game," Central coach Chris Payne said. "But our kids persevered and showed a lot of toughness tonight."

Central guard Jake McNutt showed considerable mettle in the second half after missing his first nine 3-point attempts.

With the Rockets' offense stumbling against Sterling's triangle-and-two defense, the Warriors enjoyed a 9-1 run to start the third quarter and took a 29-26 lead.

That's when McNutt stepped up and drilled Central's only basket of the third to tie the score at 43. McNutt went on to knock down a two more key 3's in the fourth quarter and ultimately played a key role, despite shooting 3-for-15 from long range.

"I brought (McNutt) over and said 'I don't care if you miss 100 in a row, you'd better shoot the next one,'" Payne said. "I knew we had to get one of those because that's the shot they were giving us. Jake's a good shooter and he struggled a little tonight, but he hit a couple big ones in the fourth quarter."

Bertrand finished with 13 points and six rebounds and Niko Rivera added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors.

Sterling's shooting woes mirrored Central's as the Warriors made only 19 of 57 (33.3 percent) of their shots from the field.

"This is a game we wanted, of course," Sterling coach Peter Goff said. "Chris and I have known each other for years and I hate losing to him and he hates losing to me. I think he's got the edge now 2-1, but maybe this is a sectional preview."

Jason Wagner contributed 11 points and five rebounds for Central. McNutt tallied nine points and sophomore Shane Larkin chipped in eight points and five rebounds. The Rockets used a rotation of only six players the entire game while capturing their seventh win in eight outings.

"It was kind of a grind-it-out game," McCurdy said. "I thought we played really well defensively. We didn't get as much transition as we wanted to, but when the offense isn't going we've just got to play defense."