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Boys Basketball: Ray Hunnicutt guides Burlington Central past St Edward
Burlington Central guard Ray Hunnicutt had an open invitation to the basket much of the night at home against St. Edward on Saturday and wasn’t about to let it go to waste.
The 5-foot-11 senior scored 30 points, mostly by driving to the basket, and led the Rockets to a 59-49 nonconference victory in a game that left the coaches of both teams hoping for better efforts in the future.
“They were turning their heads on defense,” Hunnicutt said about St. Edward. “Coach told me if they turn their heads, attack.
“This is the first time I’ve had that happen. Usually teams collapse and make me take it back out.”
Hunnicutt scored eight points in a 5 1/2-minute stretch when the Rockets outscored the Green Wave 14-4 to take a 24-11 second-quarter lead, and Central never led by less than five again.
Three buckets in that eight-point stretch came on layups, and two free throws came after he was fouled driving the bucket.
“Ray had a great game,” Central coach Brett Porto said. “He’s big, fast and did enough things driving to the basket or on the boards to carry us.”
Central (5-4) shot just 35 percent from the field (21-of-60) but maintained the lead throughout in part because it was able to outrebound St. Edward 25-18 in the second half after being outboarded 20-18 by the smaller Green Wave in the first half.
Hunnicutt had 10 rebounds in the game, while teammate Ryan Ritchie came off the bench for 11 second-half points at a critical time after the Green Wave found the range from the three-point stripe to get back in the game after trailing 34-19 at one point in the third quarter.
“We weren’t doing a very good job on defense and it was affecting our rebounding,” Porto said. “But we did just enough to win.”
St. Edward, which shot 30 percent (17-of-56), got back into the game when guard Antonio Domel scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including three three-pointers. The Green Wave (4-6) drew within 42-37 with 6:51 remaining on a rebound bucket by Doug Johnson, but Bryce Warner answered with a three-point shot for the Rockets.
A 9-4 run, with eight points coming from Hunnicutt, let the Rockets pull away for good.
“The guys fought hard,” St. Edward coach P.J. White said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump.
“We’ve got to do a better job of making our open shots late in the game, especially.”
Eddie O’Halloran and Adrian Ponce scored nine points each for St. Edward.
“Our (lack of) size hurts us out front when teams get us scrambling around,” White said after his team fell for the third straight time. They’re able to get it inside then like (Central) did.”
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