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Perez stays hot, shoots Larkin past Streamwood

Maybe it's just good ol' home cooking, but if something's changed in Victor Perez's diet, he better make sure he keeps eating it.

For the second game in a row, Perez set a new career scoring high on the home floor. Last Friday it was 28 points in a 63-48 win over Glenbard East, and Wednesday the 6-foot-2 Larkin senior went for 33 in an 86-79 win over Streamwood.

"My mindset at practice has just been that this is my last year, my last go and I want to give it all I've got," Perez said. "I want to leave Larkin and have people know that I did something here."

In addition to Perez's 33 - which came on a 70 percent shooting night from the floor (14 of 20) - junior Jashon Johnson-Neals and freshman Damari Wheeler-Thomas both had 17 off the bench. Both started there as coach Deryn Carter started all five of his seniors on Senior Night at Larkin (12-18, 9-9).

Keenon Cole, Streamwood's 6-foot-7 force of nature, had 32 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Sabres (12-18, 8-10). Nikola Sinik added 18 points and 7 boards, and Zach Marquez chipped in a dozen.

"I liked the way we handled this game," said Carter. "The defense was just so much better in the second half. They scored some points still, but everything Cole got was so much more difficult in the second half compared to the first. It's hard to prepare for him because I don't have a 6-7 Division 1 recruit to go against in practice. It took us a while to make adjustments, but when we made 'em we were good defensively.

"And Victor, the last two nights, he's just really playing within himself, letting the ball and the game come to him. He's going to be a big key to whatever we do next week," said Carter about the playoffs, which tip off next week.

For the record, Cole had eight field goals and 19 points at halftime, but the Royals' defense limited him to just three second-half buckets to go along with seven free throws in as many attempts. For the game, the Northern Illinois University-bound senior was a perfect 9 for 9 from the free throw line.

The game was close for the first three-and-a-half quarters. Streamwood led 9-3 early before a drive by Wheeler-Thomas and a basket-and-free-throw by Johnson-Neals cut it to 9-8. Cole scored eight down the stretch, including both a dunk and a putback of his own missed slam, to give the Sabres a 23-14 lead after eight minutes.

Wheeler-Thomas drove and was fouled with 5:23 to play in the second to pull Larkin within 26-23. The teams traded baskets for the next two minutes before Perez closed the quarter with 11 of the Royals' closing 13 points in the to give them a 43-42 lead before Jakobi Strong scored his lone hoop of the night to give Streamwood a 44-43 lead at the intermission.

The two Upstate Eight foes went back to trading baskets for virtually the entire third quarter, which ended when Perez drained his second 3-pointer of the night to lift Larkin to a 60-59 lead after 24 minutes.

They never trailed again. In addition to Larkin's defense bulwark in the second half, the Royals won it at the charity stripe in the fourth: 13 times the Sabres sent Larkin to the line, and the Royals made 10 of those to put the game out of reach.

In an interesting fourth-quarter turn of events, Perez fouled Cole for his fifth and went to the bench with 1:15 left and Larkin up 82-71. Cole made both free throws, then just four seconds later he, too headed to the bench with his fifth foul - as did Larkin's Christopher Rose, on a call away from the ball as the two were mixing it up in the corner.

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