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Larkin's quick start sinks Huntley

The Larkin-Jacobs matchup for Wednesday night at 7 p.m. is officially set after the six-seeded Royals disposed No. 12 Huntley 59-46 in a Class 4A South Elgin regional play-in Tuesday night, pinning together 2 of the area's best teams let alone 2 Division I recruits in juniors Christian Negron and Cameron Krutwig.

The Royals (15-11) jumped out to a 13-0 lead. Larkin's athleticism and inside presence was too much for the Red Raiders (8-22) in the first half, who were outscored 30-9 at intermission.

The Roayls totaled 28 points in the paint - which included 12 first quarter points - as AJ Hunter led the way with 15 points while Negron added 14 points and 12 rebounds. It didn't helped that Huntley was an ice-cold 1 of 14 in the first quarter and finished the half 4 of 24 with 12 turnovers.

"We pushed the ball, got open layups, that's all," Hunter said. "That's the way we got on the run to start and obviously we had a more athletic team. We had a little more height than them and that helped us out, too."

Keion Adams added 10 points for the Royals, who edged Huntley on the glass 35-27, including 12 on the offensive end that led to 10 second chance points. "We talk all the time and all you want to do is win," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "We'll take it, we get to play and go to practice tomorrow. Not everybody can say that so that's good."

Huntley showed some fight in the third quarter, as JJ Flores single-handedly almost brought the Raiders back with 14 of his game-high 21 points. Huntley outscored Larkin 24-11 in the quarter going 8 of 16 from the field as Flores knocked down 3 of his 4 threes which cut Larkin's lead to 10 in the third and 7 in the fourth.

"I was pleased we were able to fight back from because we could've gone in the tank," Raiders coach Will Benson said. "We hit a couple shots early and Matt Seng hit a three and JJ - when you bank one in you start to get confident. We just started making shots, it's that simple. But it's hard to overcome that kind of lead against a good team."

Seng finished with 11 points as Huntley shot 37.2 percent from the floor but 48.1 percent in the second half.

The real scare for Larkin came late in the fourth with 1:12 left when 6-8 sophomore reserve Jalen Shaw was undercut and flipped over the back of Hunter underneath Larkin's hoop, landing hard on both his back and head. Shaw, who needed a few minutes before getting up, was a bit wobbly but would walk off eventually with the help of Carter. Shaw was transported via ambulance to a hospital where his condition was unknown. He is expected to miss Wednesday's game.

"When you've got a guy unconscious on the floor, you're worried about bigger things than basketball," Carter said, who was en route to the hospital after the game. "It seems to be OK as far as the big picture of life. It was scary for sure."

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