St. Charles North just gets past Larkin

Playing close games is nothing new for St. Charles North's basketball team.

Perhaps that best explains how the North Stars (13-3, 4-1) pulled out another down-to-the-wire victory Friday night.

Trailing Larkin 47-39 after 3 quarters, the North Stars still found themselves behind 56-53 after the Royals' Kindrel Morris (12 points) hit a pair of free throws with 1:23 remaining.

After a patient possession resulted in an easy layup by Cade Callaghan off a feed from Anthony Delisi (9 points) to make it 56-55 with 41 seconds remaining, Larkin (8-9, 2-4) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to set up another clutch sequence for the North Stars.

Junior forward Kyle King (12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists) found a cutting Callaghan for the game-winning layup with 20 seconds left during the North Stars' 58-56 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory in St. Charles.

"We've been in a lot of games where it has come down to the final possessions," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin, whose team improved to 8-2 in games decided by 5 points or less. "We've been there before. You could tell by the way our kids were playing that they've been there before."

Poulin especially liked how his team responded despite some shaky moments in the latter stages of the second and third quarters.

"I loved the way that they were able to execute down the stretch against a team that is great defensively on the ball," said Poulin. "I might have been the one panicking but they weren't. I'm really proud of them."

Poulin realized his team had an uphill climb after Larkin outscored the North Stars 33-20 during the middle two periods.

"When you get down eight to Larkin, they've got the coaching and the ballhandling to be able to run the clock and keep you from coming back," said the coach. "Our kids dug in defensively. I thought we did a couple nice things helping and getting some dead-ball situations with some steals."

Callaghan, a 6-foot-3 junior, scored 9 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 47-42 with 6:27 remaining.

"It was nice to hit that three," said Callaghan. "It gave me confidence to hit those shots later in the fourth quarter and to get a comeback win against a great Larkin team."

Kashmir Ivy came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points for the Royals, while Jalen Shaw and Morris added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

After committing just 2 turnovers over the middle two quarters, Larkin turned the ball over 5 times in the final period.

"Up eight going into the fourth quarter - you've got to win that game," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "We'll look at some film. We just have to get better from it.

"We've got to communicate a little better on the defensive end. We gave up two layups down the stretch. That just can't happen. It was good execution on their (North Stars) part and that's why they're winning."

Brendan Dal Degan and Zach Ludwig each added 8 points for the North Stars.

"That's a real nice game on a Friday night in the Upstate Eight," said Poulin.