Senior forward Trevon Roots let it be known he wanted the challenge for Marmion.
In December, when the Cadets ended up losing to Burlington Central, Roots didn’t spend much time in that game guarding Drew Scharnowski, the Rockets’ 6-foot-7 star forward.
Afforded a second chance, Roots wasn’t going to shy away from the Belmont recruit.
“We lost to them and I couldn’t go out like that,” Roots said. “I had to get him back.
“It definitely feels great just to be able to test my strength and go up against one of the best guys in the state. It’s a great feeling.”
And Roots was aggressive from the jump Friday night.
He scored six straight points during a 14-1 flurry to start the first quarter. The Cadets then cruised to a 71-58 win in the Class 3A Burlington Central Sectional championship game.
While Marmion (23-11) created smooth sailing from that opening surge, Scharnowski picked up two quick fouls and Burlington Central (29-6) burned two timeouts.
“Coach just told us in the beginning that Drew is going to jump on everything because he’s excited,” Roots said. “Give him one pump fake, go into him and it’s going to be a foul.
“We just attacked every time — tried to get as many easy buckets as we could.”
The Cadets, who won their second sectional title in program history and first since 1976, will face Metamora at 7 p.m. Monday in the Ottawa Supersectional.
Jabe Haith, who scored his 1,000th career point Friday and missed the previous game against the Rockets, led Marmion with 21 points. Roots added 18 and Collin Wainscott had 17.
Scharnowski led Burlington Central with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. Caden West added 16 points.
Roots drew the two fouls on Scharnowski to start the game. By the 3:10 mark of the first quarter, Marmion led 14-1.
“One of the things they like to do is hit you quick,” Marmion coach Joe Piekarz said of the aptly named Rockets. “We said we wanted to hit them quick. We wanted to be the ones who were the aggressor.”
Roots was a big part of that plan.
“He said, ‘I want to guard him,'” Piekarz said of Scharnowski. “I said, ‘Well then, you’re going to guard him.’ He did a really nice job on him in the start.
“His teammates were putting him in a really good position to succeed. He’s a really good finisher. We were playing off that.”
Burlington Central came up with an 11-0 run, including eight points from Scharnowski, to cut the deficit to 17-15.
Marmion, though, responded with a 15-0 burst. The Rockets never got closer than nine the rest of the game.
“You can’t go down 10 points in games like this,” Burlington Central coach Brett Porto said. “I’ve learned that before. You’re always expending so much energy in these games.
“I thought we did a nice job cutting it to two, and they went back on a run.”
The Rockets tried to regroup at halftime, but the lead proved to be too much to overcome.
“We brought it together and just said, ‘Energy,'” Scharnowski said. “We’re going to give it our all. We’re not going to go out and let them stomp all over us. We’re going to go out and we’re going to fight.”
But now, after taking another step Friday, the Roots-led Cadets are hoping to keep it rolling all the way to the State Farm Center in Champaign.
“It’s definitely history for the school,” Roots said. “We haven’t done this since ’76. It’s definitely great. It’s just an amazing thing. I love to be a part of history.
“Playoff basketball — you’ve got to love it.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
