Jake Johnson took full advantage of the opportunity for Burlington Central.
Last week, Belmont-bound senior forward Drew Scharnowski was out with an illness, so it gave his teammates a chance to show a bit of what they could do.
Johnson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward who was the Rockets’ sixth man last season, stepped into a starring role Friday night by just doing the simplest of math.
“I knew Drew was out, so I knew a lot of shots would open up,” Johnson said. “They started falling early, so I kept shooting and kept it going throughout the game.”
That newfound confidence paid off Wednesday night as well.
Johnson got Burlington Central going early, scoring eight of his 10 points in the first half as the Rockets rolled to a 65-38 Fox Valley Conference victory at Jacobs in Algonquin.
Coming off a 25-point effort in the 68-55 victory over Prairie Ridge, Johnson shot 2-for-4 from 3-point range as the Rockets (6-2, 4-1) won their third straight game.
Brett Schlicker led Jacobs (2-8, 1-4) with 16 points. Ben Jurzak added 11.
Offensively, according to Burlington Central coach Brett Porto, Johnson started to gain confidence Dec. 2 in the second half of a 58-52 loss to Dundee-Crown.
“We just said, all the work he’s put in, he has shown himself to be the No. 2 option,” Porto said of Johnson. “We wanted everyone to know that.
“I don’t know if that gave him more confidence or if the team could snap it to him quicker, but he’s really taken off in that role.”
Last season, Porto entrusted Johnson with the sixth man role on a veteran team that featured four seniors and Scharnowski in the starting lineup.
“Initially, it was scary, but I liked it because I knew I was learning a lot from them,” Johnson said. “Being able to see them play helped even this year, especially with defense.
“They played great defense. That really helps.”
Another change in the past couple weeks has been the installation of sophomore Caden West at point guard. He scored 13 points Wednesday.
West practiced with the varsity last season but played on the JV. Now, he’s carved out a critical role for the Rockets.
“We weren’t sure at the beginning of the year, but it got to the point where he was working hard and we needed a little bit of a change of pace,” Porto said of West. “He sure has taken off in that role.
“He’s made a huge impact in our pace of play and where we’re getting the basketball.”
West is comfortable pushing the ball, so the fit was seamless.
“I’m more of the pacesetter,” West said. “Before I got pulled up, we just went slowly all the way up to half court. We really fly the ball up now.
“Once I started pushing the ball up, it started feeling more natural. It flowed better.”
Scharnowski still had his usual big impact Wednesday with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The highlight came in the fourth quarter when Matthew Lemon bounced a pass off the backboard that Scharnowski powered down for a dunk.
After a sluggish start to the season with basically a new starting lineup, Porto feels like things are starting to round into form.
“I feel like we’ve really improved in the last 7-10 days,” Porto said. “It was a big week for us last week with Drew out. Everybody else got a ton of confidence.
“This was our first chance to showcase that we can all do this together. It can be a really good thing if we can play that way.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
