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Larkin puts away Huntley

Larkin did not give Huntley any opportunities to put together a confidence-building run.

Four was the most points in succession the Royals allowed in Monday night's second-round Hinkle Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament game at Jacobs. Scoring the first 10 put them on their way to a 64-33 victory in Algonquin.

"We all played a great game," said 6-foot-5 senior Daniel McFadden, who made all 6 of his shots from the field and had 14 points and 8 rebounds. "Everybody came in and had some type of energy. That's what we need every game to win big games."

Larkin (9-4, 2-0) has one at 6 p.m. Tuesday as it would wrap up the top spot in its pool and a Friday semifinal berth with a win over Marian Central (1-1 in pool play).

Junior guard A.J. Hunter came off the bench to shoot 4-for-6 from 3-point range and scored 14 points. Six-6 sophomore Christian Negron had 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting and 5 of the Royals' 44-27 rebound advantage.

"This was probably the most complete game we've played so far this year," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter, "but we have a big one (Tuesday)."

McFadden was big inside right from the start by scoring the first 6 points and then finding Negron for a layup. McFadden had 13 of his points as the Royals led 37-16 at halftime.

"He's got a knack of scoring the ball on the block unlike many high school kids," Carter said.

"I just felt good and I came out and was aggressive right away," McFadden said. "My teammates feed off me if I do that and we feed off each other.

"I came out right away and was relaxed and patient in the paint. If I'm patient in the paint ... I can get to the basket and score and that's good for our team."

Huntley (1-7, 0-2 in pool play) shot just 23.1 percent from the field (12-for-52) and committed 20 turnovers. Brendan Boesch had a team-high 8 points and hit two 3s and Jack Bessey added 7 points.

"We missed some bunnies close to the rim again and that's been an issue all season," said Huntley coach Will Benson. "We tried to mix and match and go small with ball pressure and go big to counter their rebounding, but even when we went big, they are still bigger than we are.

"We saw some good things individually from our guys offensively to build on for (Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. game against Prairie Ridge)."

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