Boys Basketball: Balanced Larkin topples Bartlett

Updated: December 2, 2011 11:26PM

Larkin took a big step Friday toward quieting any skeptics who weren’t totally sold on the team’s fast start to the 2011-12 campaign.

Facing their toughest test of the early season, the Royals went on the road against fellow unbeaten Bartlett and came away with a convincing 62-53 Upstate Eight crossover victory.

Junior guard Quantice Hunter led the way with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists as Larkin (5-0) used its abundant athleticism to overwhelm the Hawks. With the triumph the Royals surpassed their win total from last year’s 4-23 season and created more good vibes following last week’s championship at the Woodstock Hoops for Healing Tournament.

“This win means a lot to us,” Hunter said. “We feel like we can compete with a lot of people this year. I think people are starting to see with this win what Larkin is getting back to.”

Bartlett (4-1) didn’t have an answer for Larkin’s mix of size, speed and agility as the Royals used a dominant second quarter to open a 34-18 lead at the half. But the Hawks didn’t go quietly after the break and used a 9-2 run early in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 50-45 with 4:57 remaining.

The young Royals didn’t wilt under the pressure, though, as sophomore guard Derrick Streety rebounded his own miss on the ensuing possession and fed Hunter for a three-pointer. Hunter followed that with a steal and breakaway layup moments later, and sophomore forward Drew Jones added a bucket on Larkin’s next possession to cap a run of seven consecutive points that put the Royals ahead 57-45 with 3:27 left.

“That’s so good to see when you not only have a young team, but a young team that doesn’t have a lot to pull off of,” Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. “Those games last year we would have been happy to be in a game [separated by] five points, let alone up five and having a lead cut. So we responded well, and that’s a testament to how hard [the players] have been working.”

Larkin had nine players score and shot 26-for-46 (56.5 percent) from the field.

Antonio Pipes tallied eight of his 10 points in the first half, and Streety added eight points and five assists. The Royals also got seven points apiece from and Jones and Ian Fluhler.

Bartlett got big games from seniors Matt Chaltin (19 points) and Lorenzo Mitchell (14 points, 11 rebounds). Marcus Aluquin added 12 points for the Hawks.

“I thought [Larkin] did a nice job early on of pounding the ball down low and then later working the outside shot,” Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. “But the difference in the game was our inability to run good offensive stuff (in the first half). We did it in the second half, and if we had played the whole game the way we played in the second half it’s a different kind of ballgame.”

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