Burlington Central coach Chris Payne said before the start of the boys basketball season that he hoped his young team would be rounding into form near Christmas.
With Christmas almost here, it appears the Rockets are close to their coach's schedule.
Central has won three straight and owns a 3-2 overall record going into the start of the DeKalb Tournament this weekend. Although two of those wins came against a struggling Stillman Valley team, the emergence of several scoring threats is a step in the right direction for the Rockets.
Before the season it was unclear who would step up offensively for a Central squad that lost 79.4 percent of its scoring from last year's regional championship team. So far, returning junior starters Shane Larkin and Matt McCurdy and senior Dan Berg have taken turns as the team's leading scorer through its first five games.
Larkin enjoyed a particularly big game in Friday's 58-53 win against Stillman Valley, pouring in 28 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Berg tallied at least 20 points in the previous two games.
According to Payne, getting consistent contributions from everyone in the rotation will be key if the Rockets hope to have a chance at claiming their third straight Big Northern Conference East Division title.
"Individual guys are stepping up, but it's always at a different time," Payne said. "It's good to see individual guys starting to step up. Now we're just looking to get them all going at the same time."
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