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Boys Basketball: Larkin doesn’t hold back vs Batavia
Updated: February 2, 2012 12:19AM
Larkin unleashed the beast late in the first half Wednesday against Batavia.
Clinging to a two-point lead midway through the second quarter, the Royals cranked up the intensity and blew the visiting Bulldogs away with 17 unanswered points to close the half. The onslaught continued after the intermission as Larkin claimed its fifth win in six games with a 67-40 Upstate Eight River rout.
The outcome marked a complete reversal from the first time the teams played Dec. 16 in Batavia. The Bulldogs won that contest 57-39, but they were no match for the Royals (13-7, 5-4) this time around while suffering their 10th consecutive loss.
“We were real hungry for revenge,” said Larkin junior Quentin Ruff, who scored a team-high 12 points. “We didn’t like the way we came out last time and took the loss, so we just came out prepared to get the win.”
Cole Gardner finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds for Batavia (4-15, 1-8), and his free throws with 3:53 left in the second quarter pulled the Bulldogs within 20-18 in what to that point had been a back-and-forth affair.
Larkin’s Blake Grantham scored on his team’s ensuing trip down the floor, and his bucket marked the start of a brilliant 17-0 run as the Royals used near flawless play to take a 37-18 lead at halftime.
The surge came as Batavia was mired in a brutal 10:52 stretch without a field goal that extended from late in the first quarter to early in the third. The Bulldogs finished an abysmal 12-of-62 (19.4 percent) from the field for the game and had 17 turnovers.
“We’re having a heck of a time scoring the basketball,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “That being said, we’ve got to find a way to dig out a loose ball and just take it to the basket.
“(Larkin) turned us over a lot more. I though the first time we played them they came at us just as hard, but we did a better job of protecting the basketball and scoring.”
Grantham scored all six of his points in the last 3:13 of the second quarter, and he also had an assist, a block, a steal and four of his seven rebounds during the stretch. Fellow reserves Ruff and freshman Daniel McFadden accounted for the rest of Larkin’s scoring during the 17-0 run, but the big-time production from the bench brigade is nothing new for the Royals, who had 11 players enter the scoring column for the third time in five games.
Starter Derrick Streety had 11 points, McFadden pitched in with eight points and sophomore Drew Jones had seven points for Larkin.
“We were playing well in that (second-quarter) spurt and it showed in the scoreboard, “ Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. “Our guys are starting to play at a higher level for a longer amount of time, which is encouraging.”
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