Larkin holds off West Chicago
You could say Larkin center Daniel McFadden was down for much of the first half thanks to foul trouble in Larkin's 80-71 Upstate Eight River win over West Chicago Thursday night.
But that didn't mean the Royals' 6-foot-5 big man, nor their entire starting front line, was down and out by any means and an all too familiar scene flared up again in the third quarter for the Wildcats.
After a first half that featured 13 Larkin fouls - including 2 each to Tanner Gardon and Christian Negron - and a 2-point deficit to the Wildcats at the half, McFadden, who scored 10 of 16 points in the third quarter of Larkin's 62-42 win at West Chicago on December 12, pounded the Wildcats in the post this time for 9 of his team-high 14 points in that stretch where Larkin broke things open with a 24-11 advantage.
McFadden, who secured 6 rebounds as well and helped Larkin (15-7, 7-5) score 42 points in the paint, also began the third quarter by picking up his third foul. But that didn't stop the game plan of going to him throughout and the Royals winning their third-straight game.
"I know if I didn't play through it and I let it get to me mentally it was going to mess me up," McFadden said of the fouls. "Even if I felt like a call was wrong I just played through it."
That keyed a 15-3 run in the quarter's first 5 minutes, including a steal, a few moves inside, two putbacks and a 3-point play which helped put Larkin up 10 with 3:55 remaining.
"That's how we prepared for this game because we knew what he was going to do," West Chicago coach Bill Recchia said. "Last time we played them he had 10 points in the third quarter and that separated us the first time and that's what they were trying to do again."
"When Daniel is in rhythm or in his right, he's as good as anybody in the area down on the block," said Royals' coach Deryn Carter, whose team also won the rebounding edge 31-27. "He's showed it the past couple of nights."
Larkin's lead blossomed to 14 at one point as it outscored West Chicago (5-14, 3-8) 46-35 in the final 16 minutes. Negron scored 9 of his 14 points in the second half to go with his 4 rebounds while 11 points came from D'Montrelle Mardis and 10 from Keion Adams. Gardon and Charles Sanders each added 9. Larkin's 54.5 percent clip (30 of 55 shooting) erased a first half that gave West Chicago confidence, as the Wildcats led by 4 after the first quarter thanks to 7 free throws on 9 fouls. West Chicago ended the first half with a 10-2 run via two 3s by Brian Ricci to lead 36-34.
"Each team was going to get a series of runs, they had the bigger of the runs tonight," Recchia said. "Overall, I'm not completely displeased with our effort. It's the little things we need to tighten up on and it starts with the little two-footers."
Ricci led all scorers with 21, including 7 in the fourth when West Chicago had a modest comeback that trimmed Larkin's lead to 7 in the final minute. Peter Dolan added 14 points while Devonte Pascal had 13 points to go with his 9 rebounds. But the Wildcats shot at a 38.3 percent clip on 60 shots and a lot of those came at the rim even though they had 28 points down low and 18 points off turnovers.
"I think we missed seven or eight layups and we need to finish those and it's a simple thing," Recchia said." We've been handicapped by that the entire season and I don't know if they're afraid they're going to get their shot blocked, I don't know. But they need to finish strong underneath and it would have been a different ballgame."