Larkin, St. Charles North win at Kaneland
Larkin quickly shelved any chance of a second consecutive slow start at Kaneland's second annual Day and Knight of Basketball on Saturday.
The Royals boys basketball team scored the first 14 points of the game, then held off the inevitable rush by the host Knights to win 68-51 in Maple Park.
When Kaneland coach Brian Johnson called timeout down 5-0 on a pair of Tanner Gardon baskets sandwiching a Charles Sanders steal, Larkin coach Deryn Carter also had something to say.
"I quizzed our guys and asked them if that was a better start," said the Larkin graduate.
On Friday, Larkin trailed 18-4 against St. Charles North.
"We started out slow, and we were in the mindset where we really didn't know what we wanted to do, like how to start the game," said Sanders, who had 4 steals and 6 points in a first quarter Larkin (16-8) led 16-7.
"But tonight we knew we had to come out aggressive, so we could leave a good impression what Larkin basketball is all about," Sanders said.
Against Kaneland it was about defensive and rebounding.
"We had something like 25 turnovers and (allowed) 19 offensive rebounds," Johnson said. "It's tough when there's 46 extra chances for them, and you put yourselves in a hole. Hopefully we learned from it and we can carry over to these last four games."
Like Larkin, Kaneland (11-12) also started slowly Friday as well, trailing DeKalb 21-0. Saturday the Knights got on the board with 3:07 left in the first quarter on a Dylan Vaca fadeaway.
"That's like something the coaches tell you all the time not to do," said Vaca, whose 23 points led all scorers. "But I mean, when the time comes you've got to do what you've got to do. You shoot and you pray it goes in because you know you're going to get yelled at if it doesn't."
Correct on both aspects, it started to right the Knights' ship. Kaneland and Vaca continued to rally, within 28-24 by halftime and 28-27 on Connor Fedderly's 3 at 5:48 of the third quarter.
"Then a (Gardon) 3 in the corner and it kind of went downhill after that," Johnson said.
"We were trying to obviously handle their pressure and it took us a while to get used to it," Johnson said. "But I was happy how we responded and we got back into the game."
Christian Negron had two big hands in Larkin's counter-surge. The 6-foot-6 sophomore scored 9 of his team-high 20 points, plus 2 steals and a block, in the third quarter.
The steal resulted in a reverse dunk which helped Larkin go into the fourth quarter leading 50-36.
In the fourth quarter, Sanders collected his fourth steal, dribbled downcourt and bounced the ball off the backboard to a following Negron, who slammed it home.
"It just kind of comes naturally," said Negron, who grabbed 12 rebounds.
Gardon finished with 14 points for Larkin, Sanders adding 9 and Daniel McFadden and A.J. Hunter each with 7. Fedderly scored 8 points for Kaneland.
"There's a better sense in our locker room," said Negron, comparing the weekend's games. "We knew what we had to get done to win - just playing hard, playing together, trusting each other defensively. It starts defensively."
St. Charles North 66, Hillcrest 64:
Also at Kaneland's Day and Knight of Basketball, St. Charles North withstood trapping defense and a height disadvantage to surmount a team one slot off The Associated Press' top 10 in Class 3A.
Trailing 28-16 at one point in the second quarter, resilient St. Charles North (16-7) made 13 of 16 fourth-quarter free throws to hold off the Hillcrest Hawks (17-6).
"We feel like we can handle pressure, we have multiple ballhandlers and smart kids - high basketball IQ - that are unselfish, and that's what you need," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin.
Trailing 51-50 early in the fourth quarter, St. Charles North guard Jarod Karom hit a 3-point just left of center. St. Charles North got a defensive stop, Jake Ludwig added a pair of free throws and the North Stars never trailed again.
Hillcrest missed 2 free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining but regained possession. Off the inbounds pass Taylor Adway, a 6-foot-8 senior who joined point guard Myles McCoy with 13 points for the Hawks, missed a short shot that would have tied the game, and Ludwig rebounded.
Ludwig scored a game-high 20 points for St. Charles North, which has won 14 of its last 17 games.
Mikey Schroeder scored 14 with 2 key 3-pointers in the third quarter. Karom scored 11 points including 6-of-6 fourth-quarter foul shooting while helping Ludwig and Schroeder handle Hillcrest's late-game pressure.
"I was just confident shooting the free throws," Karom said. "I felt good and then they looked good."