Veteran guards can make a big difference in postseason basketball, as Bryce Burns and Simon Allen displayed at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday morning.
The two senior guards combined for 47 points as No. 11 Central of Corinth scored its second straight tournament upset with a 63-45 victory over No. 3 Woodland in a Class C North quarterfinal.
The win was the ninth in Central’s last 10 games as the Red Devils improved to 12-8 and advanced to Friday’s semifinal against the winner of Wednesday morning’s second game between George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and Penobscot Valley of Howland.
Woodland ends its season at 15-4.
Burns scored 24 points and Allen added 23 to pace coach Riley Donovan’s Central team.
Wyatt MacArthur scored 20 points for Woodland.
Central used an 11-0 second-quarter run to build a 28-18 halftime lead.
The Red Devils’ veteran backcourt led the way, with Burns and Allen the team’s only scorers before intermission as Burns scored 15 points and Allen added 13, seven during the second quarter despite being the focus of a box-and-one defense.
Central trailed just once during the opening two quarters, that at 3-2 on a 3-pointer by MacArthur barely a minute into the contest.
Burns answered with a free throw and Allen followed with his first of three 3-pointers in the half to give Central a 6-3 lead, and with the Red Devils limiting Woodland to one shot on most of its possessions they were able to take a 16-13 edge at the quarter break.
Central’s Bryce Burns goes up for a shot over Woodland’s Shain McIver in second half action of the boys Class C North quarterfinal game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday; Woodland’s Shain McIver (#23), Wyatt MacArthur (#13) and Central’s Simon Allen go up for a rebound in second half action of the boys Class C North quarterfinal game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday; The Central Red Devils celebrate their 63-45 victory over Woodland in the boys Class C North quarterfinal game at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday. Central won the game 63-45. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
A pull-up jumper by MacArthur early in the second quarter pulled Woodland to within 17-15, but the Dragons didn’t score again until Shain McIver hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with three seconds left.
In the interim, it was all Central, with Burns and Allen combining for 11 unanswered points, with a steal and drive by Burns giving the Red Devils their largest lead of the half at 28-15 with 1:28 remaining.
Woodland scored the first five points of the second half, but Burns answered with seven straight points, the final 3 on a 3-pointer that restored Central to a 35-22 cushion.
The Red Devils took a 43-31 lead into the final quarter and built their lead to as much as 53-35 on an Allen free throw with 4:31 left.
