Larkin cruises to 15th straight win over Elgin
To the Larkin boys basketball players December's 8-point win at Elgin was like eating a steak without the baked potato: tasty but ultimately missing something.
Friday's 75-48 victory over the same Maroons was a satisfying feast by comparison.
Upstate Eight River-leading Larkin (14-5, 7-0) defeated its rival for a series record 15th straight time, though Elgin (6-13, 0-7) still leads the all-time series 79-55.
The Royals opened with a big run. Senior forward Jalen Shaw's dunk off a feed from Kindrel Morris capped a 12-0 spurt to open the game. Morris had 3 of his 6 assists during the run while Shaw scored 4 points and senior guard Anthony Lynch splashed a pair of 3-pointers.
The Royals led 20-8 after a quarter and 38-16 at the half.
"We came out ready," said Lynch, who led the Royals with 16 points to go with 7 rebounds and 3 steals. "In practice we were ready to play and anxious from what happened last time. We just didn't want to have that same feeling we had."
The Maroons missed their first 17 attempts from 3-point range. Overall, they shot 27 percent from the field (17 of 62) and 21 percent from distance (5 of 24).
"One team came out to play and the other one didn't," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "You're not going to fight back from that, especially against a team as good as Larkin. If there's not a lesson learned, then that's on us."
The Royals overcame 21 turnovers by shooting 60 percent from the field (30 of 51). Defensively, they limited Elgin to 8 points in the first quarter, 8 in the second and 10 in the third.
"We talked about it being a rivalry game and you couldn't let the emotion of the atmosphere get to you," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "We just had to play Larkin basketball. We didn't feel like we did the first time we played these guys. The locker room feels a lot better than the first time we played them. We've got a mature group. They know they brought it today so we're proud of them, for sure."
Elgin's Dan Toolsie led all scorers with 29 points in a losing cause. No other Maroons scored more than Trey Yarber's 6 points.
Shaw finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds for Larkin. Junior guard Christopher Rose, making his first start in place of Pierre Black, who missed two days of practice during the week due to the flu, scored 10 points and Victor Perez added 9 points.