Sluggish Larkin gets past Kenwood
Shots weren't falling early for the Larkin boys basketball team, but the Royals made sure even fewer shots dropped for Kenwood throughout Wednesday's 47-40 opening-round victory at the Proviso West Tournament.
Larkin shot 21.4 percent from the field in the first half but held the Broncos to 28.6 percent from the floor overall (16 of 56) and 3 of 12 from 3-point range to advance in the championship bracket for the third consecutive year.
"I think we did a good job of not letting our offense affect the defensive side," said Larkin senior Anthony Lynch, who led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting. "As long as we're playing defense, defense wins championships so I think we just kept the defense up and kept playing. That's all that mattered."
Larkin (8-2) advances to face Uplift (7-4) Thursday at 7 p.m. The same teams met in the second round last year with Uplift winning 90-74. No other opponent scored more than 80 points against Larkin last season.
"Kenwood is tough and I think the next game we have coming up is just as good a matchup," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "Seeding a tournament like this is tough. Kenwood, we're two ranked teams in the top 20 in the area so it's unfortunate that one of us had to go to the left side of the bracket. But you take a win like that any way you can get it."
The Royals trailed 28-27 at halftime after shooting 1 of 12 from beyond the arc. They were far better in the second half, making 12 of 22 from the field (65 percent) and 3 of 9 from distance.
Larkin 6-foot-10 senior Jalen Shaw was limited to 8 points on 2-of-8 shooting with 7 turnovers by Kenwood 6-foot-5 defenders Naseer Turner and Robert McGee. "I was horrible," Shaw said, despite finishing with 12 rebounds and a blocked shot.
Nevertheless, Larkin used a 12-2 fourth-quarter run to transform a 1-point lead into an 11-point cushion. The surge was ignited by senior guard Jackson Reuter, who came off the bench to hit a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
"It was huge to just help out when my number was called," Reuter said, "especially with my role being to provide a spark when I can."
Lynch scored the next 6 points of the run via drives and free throws. His free throw with 1:10 remaining put the Royals ahead 46-36.
Larkin turned the ball over 19 times compared to 13 miscues for Kenwood (5-3), but the Royals won the rebounding battle 42-28 and limited the Broncos to 8 second-half field goals in 30 attempts.
"They're a good offensive team and we held them to 40 with a last-second bucket they got," Carter said. "Real proud of the defensive effort. If we continue to play defense like that all week and we shoot it a little better, we've got a chance to be playing Saturday night."
Larkin junior guard Pierre Black had 8 points and Reuter finished with 6.
Turner led the Broncos with 17 points and 5 rebounds before he fouled out and McGee added 7.