Marshawn Cocroft got to the hoop again and again Friday night.

The Kaneland senior point guard attacked the basket early and often, scoring 30 points to lead the Knights to a 70-52 championship victory over the hosts in the Class 3A Burlington Central Regional title game.

“I know I have the ability to do that,” he said. “When I’m on, my teammates know, and they’re going to keep giving me the ball. I just keep attacking the defense, because they did not have a defender on the team that could stay with me.”

The Knights advance to Tuesday’s Woodstock North Sectional semifinal to face Rockford East at 7 p.m.

Cocroft scored 18 in the second half.

“He’s a dynamic offensive player, and he had it going tonight,” Knights coach Ernie Colombe said. “And we were able to get him in some matchups that were working, so we just stuck with it.

“Great kid, works really hard and has a tremendous will to win, so we’re lucky to have him.”

Burlington Central didn’t have an answer for him.

“He’s got a quick first step, and he can always change directions on a dime,” Colombe said. “Such a good ball-handler. He can get you going one way, stop, and he’s gone the other way and you’re still trying to recover. The key is he puts a lot of work in when no one is around, working on his ball-handling, his shooting. He’s not satisfied.”

Kaneland (32-0) took its biggest lead of the first half just as the halftime buzzer sounded when junior Jeffrey Hassan rebounded Cocroft’s missed 3 and laid it in for a 38-27 lead.

The Knights couldn’t sustain the momentum into the third quarter.

Burlington Central (19-13) battled to within 42-41 with 3:08 left in the third quarter after junior Joseph Cumpata (11 points) scored on a putback.

“We raised our level of intensity,” Rockets coach Brett Porto said, “I told them at halftime about how proud I was and told them if we do a couple little things, to be honest, I thought our box-outs and stuff were great on (Jeffery) Hassan. A call here, a loose ball here, I feel like it’s a little bit closer, but that’s just basketball.

“Second half, I thought we really rallied around some of those box-outs and rebounds and got back in the game.”

Junior Patrick Magan (14 points) knocked down two of his four 3-pointers to help the Rockets rally during a 10-0 run. Junior Ryan Carpenter (12 points) also scored during their comeback bid.

The Rockets got to within 49-46 on Cumpata’s basket in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but the Knights responded with an 11-0 run to break the game open, taking a 60-46 lead with 3:40 to play after back-to-back drives from Cocroft.

“I mix it up to make sure that I’m unpredictable with my moves,” Cocroft said. “I use the speed, switch speeds every time whether it’s full-court, a half-court set, whatever it is, I make sure of that. Even my teammates, they’ll say, ‘Let’s go Marshawn, this is your time, this is where you eat,’ so I knew that myself, I knew that we needed a basket to get us going, and when I did we just went on from there.”

Kaneland senior Isaiah Gipson scored 16 points off the bench.

“They just left the lane wide open, every time you were on the wing there was no help defense,” Gipson said. “Coaches told us to attack it, play off two feet and make the layup, told us go in there and play with energy, and we went out there and played some defense. Once I got my defense, I find my game, and I found my layups.

“We just took over after that and kept the ball under pressure.”

Hassan had the second of his three dunks during the game-breaking fourth-quarter run.

“I was just playing out there with as much energy as I can,” Hassan said. “Knowing it could be my last time with my guys, I had to move faster. And Marshawn, he was relentless tonight. He just kept going. They were being really physical, but I don’t think there was anyone who could stop him.”

Cocroft’s steal and layup turned into a three-point play with 2:15 left in the third quarter. It also ended Burlington Central’s scoring run.

“We just knew they would go on a run, and my teammates had told me that this is my time, this is where I take over as a point guard, control the game, calm us down, and that’s what I needed to do. I did that,” he said.

“We know that we’re undefeated. Each time, whatever team we play, they are going to give us their best shot. No matter who they played before us, our game will be the biggest game for them, so our entire team knows that.”