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Larkin knocks out South Elgin

Last year's Cinderella was unceremoniously booted from the annual ball Tuesday night.

The South Elgin boys basketball team, which as a four-seed last year shocked top seed Larkin in overtime in a regional semifinal and advanced all the way to the Class 4A Sweet 16, couldn't cast the same spell on the Royals two years in a row.

No. 1 Larkin blew open a 4-point game at the half by outscoring No. 4 South Elgin 40-17 in the final two quarters to post a 62-35 victory in a Bartlett regional semifinal.

The win advances Larkin (19-8) to Friday's title game against the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between No. 2 Jacobs (22-5) and No. 3 Bartlett (19-10).

Was payback for last year's upset on the minds of the Royals?

"It was a little because it was a stinger," said 6-foot-6 Larkin sophomore Christian Negron, who in the second half scored 11 of his 13 points and grabbed 5 of his 9 rebounds.

Leading 22-21 early in the third quarter, the Royals blew the game open with a 24-2 run that featured 17 consecutive points, highlighted by a pair of thunderous dunks from Negron.

In the first half Larkin shot 9 of 29 from the field and struggled to score against South Elgin's 2-3 zone defense. It was a different story after the break as the Royals used their transition game and rebounding dominance to connect on 15 of 30 attempts and build an insurmountable lead.

Larkin did much of its damage by winning a lopsided rebounding battle 39-20. Negron and 6-7 senior Tanner Gardon each hauled down 9 rebounds while 6-5 senior Daniel McFadden added 8 boards.

"Our best offense was our offensive rebounding, really," said McFadden, who scored 6 of his game-high 17 points on putbacks. " We did it very well, me, Christian and Tanner."

"Our guards tried to be more aggressive and we just tried to go and get it on the glass," Negron said.

It didn't help South Elgin's cause that 6-foot-10 junior Tyler Hankins got into foul trouble in the third quarter. When he and his 9 rebounds left the game, Larkin surged.

"It definitely was not effort on the boards," South Elgin coach Matt Petersen said. "I mean, there were people battling. They were jumping and fighting and pushing to get rebounds. You can do all that and guys can still jump right over the top of you and take the rebound away from you. I thought I saw that happen an awful lot more than people just standing and watching and letting people get open rebounds."

South Elgin (11-20) made 8 of 20 first-half shots, but the Storm sank only 5 of their 25 second-half attempts and went 1 of 11 from 3-point range.

"We missed a lot of shots - open, easy shots - and that seemed to get them fired up," said South Elgin junior Matty Smith, who led the Storm with 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting. "They got a little run off it and we just couldn't seem to get back in the game."

Gardon and sixth man AJ Hunter each finished with 9 points for Larkin, which seeks its second regional title in three seasons.

Images: Larkin vs. South Elgin, boys basketball

  South Elgin's Matty Smith goes for a layup against Larkin's Christian Negron Tuesday night at Bartlett. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Daniel McFadden, left, and Keion Adams of Larkin battle for a loose ball during Larkin vs. South Elgin boys basketball at Class 4A Bartlett regional. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Larkin's AJ Hunter closely guards Justin Howard of South Elgin during Larkin vs. South Elgin boys basketball at Class 4A Bartlett regional. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
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