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Boys Basketball: Larkin cruises by St Charles East
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: January 14, 2012 11:50PM
Larkin took something from Tuesday’s overtime loss to rival Elgin and applied it in a big way Saturday night to St. Charles East.
The Royals dominated every phase of the game, holding Purdue-bound Saints star Kendall Stephens to eight points while outrebounding the hosts 37-17 en route to a 62-43 Upstate Eight River victory.
“We learned we can stick with bigger teams and we can play against bigger teams, and if we keep pushing ourselves we can keep going,” Larkin guard Derrick Streety said about the lesson the Royals learned against Elgin.
Streety, in particular, did his part. He scored 19 points, including eight in the first quarter when he exploded past Saints defenders to layups each time as the Royals (9-6, 2-3) took a 15-10 lead.
“It was a case of wanting the guards to penetrate and if they couldn’t get to the basket, get it to the big people or dish it back outside to the shooters,” Larkin coach Deryn Carter said.
Guard Quantice Hunter scored 16 points and guard Quentin Ruff 11 off the bench as St. Charles East had trouble all night with Larkin’s quickness.
“Mostly their guards were coming out pretty fast and had a lot of momentum so we were just trying to go past them and score as much as we can, and dish off once we got in the paint,” Streety said.
Larkin shot 47 percent from the floor (21-of-45) and ended a three-game losing streak easily despite hitting only three three-pointers — a small amount for the Royals.
Larkin’s defense was just as dominant, allowing only 32 percent shooting by the Saints (15-of-46), who were led by guard Dom Adduci’s 20-point night.
“We were getting back to some of our bad habits on the board,” said St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods, whose team lost its third straight.
The Saints (8-7, 3-3) had been outrebounded 26-10 through three quarters and trailed 43-29. They never got closer than 10 points at 47-37 in the fourth quarter. And then consecutive buckets by Ian Fluhler, Streety and Hunter broke their backs.
A 10-2 run by Larkin in the last three minutes of the third quarter had turned a 43-37 lead into a comfortable edge. Hunter and Ruff both hit three-pointers in that stretch.
After the game, Woods made his team meet for almost 45 minutes and players put wrote on the board phrases to describe the team’s problems in the three-game losing streak.
“I think some of the best quotes up there are ‘not executing the game plan,’ ‘we’re soft,’ ‘no intensity,’ “ Woods said. “I thought we had the talent, but mentally we’re not getting it done.”
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