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Larkin closes out Rockford tournament with win

ROCKFORD - The Larkin boys basketball team got to experience a little bit of everything this week in the Rockford Tip-Off Classic.

The Royals played teams from three different states and split four competitive games, capped by a 62-55 victory Saturday at Auburn High School, where they withstood a fourth-quarter charge from Janesville Parker (Wis).

Larkin senior guard A.J. Hunter started 0-for-8 from the field, but heated up to finish with a team-high 16 points before leaving with an injury midway through the fourth quarter.

Junior Christian Negron collected 12 points and 10 rebounds while Keyvon Kyles added 11 points and hit 4 clutch free throws in the final 3 minutes.

"Playing different teams with different styles, we got a good idea of where we're at," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "Overall, we need to go back and correct some things, but we have a lot to work with too, so that's good."

Larkin carried a 45-35 lead into the final quarter, but Parker (1-1) caught fire with a 12-3 run during the opening 3 minutes of the fourth.

Guard Carlos Campos, who tallied 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half for the Vikings (1-1), drained a pair of 3-pointers and made a transition layup to narrow the gap to 48-47.

Kyles answered with a step-back jumper and a pair of free throws for Larkin. Then Negron completed a 3-point play for a 55-49 lead after he followed up his own missed slam dunk.

Parker never got closer than 6 points as Keion Adams (6 points) and Negron went 5-for-6 from the line. For the game, the Royals made 19 of 28 free throw attempts while the Vikings went just 2-for-4.

"They made some big shots, but we did a good job finishing it off," Carter said. "We have good free throw shooting guards and they made them down the stretch to keep the game where it was at."

The contest was tied at 15-15 after the opening quarter as the Vikings attempted to slow the pace and force Larkin into a half-court game.

The Royals moved in front 30-25 at the half as Hunter scored the team's final 8 points, including a long buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Hunter opened the second half with consecutive trifectas and another 3-pointer from Trell Mardis (9 points) pushed the lead to double digits.

"We can still do a much better job of getting into our own stuff. We'll have four practices before our next game to work on that," said Carter, whose team opens the Upstate Eight River season next Friday at rival Elgin (4-1), which won the West Chicago tournament Saturday.

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