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St. Charles East takes it to Larkin

The St. Charles East boys basketball team finished its home schedule on a high note Friday night with a 62-42 Senior night win over Upstate Eight River foe Larkin.

The Saints put the game away with strong second half play.

"We were better offensively in the second half. The first half, I thought our defense was solid but we turned the ball over like five times in a row in the second quarter," said Saints coach Pat Woods. "We also tried to play for our seniors, it being their last time on the floor. It meant a lot to these guys so that definitely contributed as well "

East's Zach Mitchell agreed that being the last home game for him and his fellow seniors gave the Saints more incentive.

"We did it for the seniors," said the senior guard who scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half including three 3-pointers. "We pushed at it with a lot of extra effort (in the second half), finished our layups, played really well on D and it all came together."

The Royals' shooting was off the mark in the first quarter. Larkin (13-13, 4-6) missed all nine shots in the period which allowed East to open up a 13-2 lead after the first eight minutes. Larkin's only points came on two Gunnar Boley free throws with 1:05 left in the period.

"We got off to a bad start. Hats off to St. Charles East - they took it to us," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "They deserved to win - they played better than us."

Larkin found its scoring touch in the second quarter, scoring 9 points to the Saints' 11 but still trailed by 13 at halftime, 24-11.

The Royals made a run at East to start the third quarter. Larkin opened the second half scoring with a Pierre Black 3-pointer from the top of the key. Anthony Lynch (8 points) followed with an old fashioned 3-point play on a layup and free throw to pull within 7, 24-17.

East's Kevin Cook returned the margin to 12, 29-17, on a putback and a trey from the left corner.

Larkin narrowed the margin to 29-21 on baskets by Isaiah Talley and Kindrel Morris but that was as close the Royals would get.

The Saints (17-8, 8-3) then made the next 5 baskets - three by Mitchell, one by Alec Champine (12 points) and one by senior Wade Kyle - as the first part of a 14-2 run to finish out the third quarter. Larkin's Kashmir Ivy broke the string of East baskets with 2 of his 9 points. East had a 20-point advantage, 43-23, to start the fourth quarter

"We forgot to show up defensively (in the second half). We gave up 24 points in the first two quarters and then we gave up 21 in the third quarter," Carter said. "It's a disappointing loss."

Saints junior forward Justin Hardy notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

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