Big guys take over in Larkin's win over Belvidere

ROCKFORD - Larkin struggled offensively against Belvidere for 16 minutes. Then the Royals' big men took over.

Daniel McFadden scored 10 of his game-high 14 points in the second half and Christian Negron added 13 points as the Royals downed the Bucs, 54-36, in the 205 Tip-Off Classic at Rockford East Friday.

Larkin led just 19-16 at intermission, but outscored Belvidere 13-6 in the third quarter, with McFadden accounting for 8 of the Royals' points.

The key to the Royals' second-half surge was their ability to dominate the backboards against the smaller Bucs.

"Sometimes your best offense against a zone is putting it up on the rim and letting your big guys go get it," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "Our big guys stepped up."

The teams were tied with 12 rebounds apiece at halftime, but Larkin had a 13-3 advantage on the glass in the third quarter and finished with a 36-27 edge.

"That's unacceptable with the size that we start with," said Negron of the first half stats. "We should be winning the rebounding battle most of the time."

"We knew we had an advantage down low," McFadden said. "We knew they were smaller and they were in a zone. We weren't attacking the boards in the first half like we should have, and we just came out in the second half and attacked the boards."

Negron finished with 12 boards while McFadden added 11.

The third Larkin big man, Tanner Gardon, added 8 points and 5 rebounds, while Keyvon Kiles 7 points. Negron also dished out 4 assists.

Carter acknowledged that some occasional struggles are part of having a young team, especially at the guard spots.

"You definitely want to struggle and win as opposed to struggle and lose," he said.

One thing that was consistent for the Royals was defense. Larkin held Belvidere to 26 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.

Colton Bahling and Tyler Lass scored 8 points apiece to lead Belvidere.