St. Charles East clamps down on Larkin

It's official according to St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods: the Saints boys basketball program "has a lockdown defender." His name? Soccer standout and current guard Evan DiLeonardi.

Shortly after East's win over rival St. Charles North last weekend, the 6-foot-2 junior guard who held Northwestern commit Jordan Nash to 5 points in a 6-point loss to St. Joseph on Nov. 28, had an entire week of preparation for his defensive assignment against two-time defending Upstate River champ Larkin. The plan was to attack Royals' 6-6 sophomore standout forward Christian Negron, limit his touches and keep him a nonfactor.

With Friday's 62-54 win in Elgin, DiLeonardi proved Woods' words to be accurate. Negron scored just 10 points, all coming in the fourth quarter after Larkin, which was down by as many as 17 late in the third, tried staging a late rally against the Saints (4-1, 1-0), who always had an answer for the Royals (4-2, 1-1).

"We knew we had to do something about him or he'd hurt us badly," said DiLeonardi, unaccustomed to guarding taller players. "We were trying to get him not to touch the ball, take him out of the game completely and I think we executed pretty well."

Tanner Gardon picked up the slack for the Royals with 15 points and AJ Hunter added 10 as Negron, who was visibly frustrated from the start but hauled in 12 rebounds, was 0-for-4 from the field in the first 3 quarters. DeLeonardi's quickness beat Negron to the spot at times which was a factor. Negron slammed a putback with 2:50 left cutting the lead to 8.

"Evan is a phenomenal athlete, he is in just great shape physically and just able to keep up with anyone," Woods said. "Negron had 60 percent of their offense previous to (Friday) and he's a phenomenal player. By no means do I think it was just Evan alone, we all keyed in on him, we were helping him."

And on offense, too. Aiding DiLeonardi's defensive efforts, point guard Cole Gentry led the way with 20 points (4 steals, 3 rebounds) in his typical, driving approach. Capitalizing on Gentry's kickouts were Michael Vyzral (14 points on three 3-pointers) and Jake Asquini (12 points on two 3-pointers).

East's 6-point lead evaporated when Larkin, which hadn't lost a regular season Upstate Eight game since Feb 22, 2013, made back-to-back 3-pointers for a 17-14 lead with 6:15 left in the second quarter. The Saints rolled into the half on a 12-2 run afterward and pushed it to 46-29 with 56 seconds left in the third on Vyzral's kick out 3.

"Credit to them, they're tough enough to play," said Royals' coach Deryn Carter. "But when you're playing from behind against them it's not a good idea, that's not the ideal situation."

Both teams shot 22 of 50 from the field for a 44 percent clip as Larkin nailed seven 3-pointers to East's 6. The difference was in rebounds, as East had a 29-25 advantage as well as a 12-3 advantage at the free-throw line. The Saints also scored 28 points in the paint and 15 points off 16 Larkin turnovers.

"I thought our defense was tremendous three-quarters of the night and our rebounding, just something we've been focusing on and continue to focus on," said Woods, whose team also notched three charges. "(Larkin's) owned conference the last two years and I know when we talked before the season they were the team to beat and to come here (and win) on the road, I'm very happy."