Boys Basketball: Elgin fights past Larkin in overtime

Updated: January 12, 2012 12:46AM

Larkin hung right with crosstown rival Elgin for four quarters Wednesday night, but overtime was a different story.

Pushed to the brink, the No. 22 Maroons flexed their muscles in the extra session and came away with a 59-52 Upstate Eight River victory in front of a big crowd at Chesbrough Field House.

Arie Williams made up for several miscues earlier in the game by scoring nine of Elgin’s 11 points in overtime. The junior guard finished with a game-high 21 points and five assists as the Maroons (14-1, 4-1) survived Larkin’s best shot and captured their 10th win in a row.

“Every game there is always a big old target on our back, so we have to come out energized and ready to go,” Williams said. “I think today we were out of our comfort zone just a little bit and things didn’’t go how we wanted, but we fought through it and took care of business in overtime.”

Williams hit a jumper on Elgin’s first possession in overtime and the Maroons rattled off 10 straight points to start to the extra frame, finally gaining the breathing room that eluded them in regulation. After playing with poise for the first 32 minutes, Larkin (8-6, 1-3) saw its first five possessions in overtime result in two turnovers, two missed shots and a missed free throw on the front end of a one-and-one.

Simply getting to overtime took some effort on the part of Elgin, which trailed 48-46 in the final minute before Williams hit an off-balance runner in the lane to tie the score with 46 seconds left. Cortez Scott then blocked a shot by Larkin’s Derrick Streety on the ensuing possession and saved the rebound from going out of bounds as the score remained tied at 48 going into overtime.

“I told the guys if we play that hard and play that well, we won’t lose a lot of games,” Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. “Elgin is one of the best teams around and they showed it today by ekeing it out.””

Added Elgin coach Mike Sitter: “I thought Larkin played harder than we did. When you get in a rivalry game like this, the team that plays harder usually wins. Today we just closed it out a little bit and made some plays at the end.”

Elgin senior Kory Brown finished with 14 points and scored the 1,000th point of his three-year varsity career on his first basket of the game in the first quarter. The standout forward had Maroons fans holding their breath when he crumpled to the floor with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter, but he returned in the second half and pulled down six of his seven rebounds after the intermission.

Elgin senior Dennis Moore wasn’t so lucky as he left in the second half with a right hand injury. The starting guard will go for an X-ray on Wednesday. Scott helped pick up the slack with Moore sidelined and finished with 15 points.

Sophomore Drew Jones led the Royals with 11 points, but he was held scoreless in the second half. Streety had 10 points and Antonio Pipes added six points and eight rebounds for Larkin, which now trails the all-time series against Elgin 78-40.

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