Lake Park downs Larkin

Larkin and Lake Park's boys basketball teams would have been better off playing Saturday afternoon's game outside, rather than inside.

Lake Park shot 33 percent from the field (16 for 48) and Larkin an icy 20 percent (9 for 43), as the Lancers used not only their size to outrebound Larkin 45-23, but two 3-pointers by Dominque Spencer midway through the fourth to hold off Larkin 49-33 in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover win in Elgin.

“We've got seven wins, but we've won a lot of ugly games this year,” Lancers coach Josh Virostko said. “One thing is we're guarding a little bit, we have guarded in the games that we were successful, just haven't been real sharp offensively.”

Careless turnovers were also a subplot, as Larkin (2-8) coughed it up 20 times, 2 more than Lake Park (7-3). Fouls also piled up as the teams combined for 32, the Lancers converting 14 of 22 free throws.

A charity stripe beneficiary was Zack Cooper, who scored a game-high 17 and hit 5 of 8 at the line. The Lancers led by 9 at the half but shot 40 percent in the second half thanks to Eric Eicholz, who was 3 of 6 from the field including a 3-pointer in the left corner to put Lake Park up 28-15 with 3:40 in the third.

Lake Park expanded the lead to 15 on Cooper's free throws to begin the fourth as Larkin couldn't knock down shots. Vincent Sarangaya's 3-pointer with 4:18 in the fourth cut the Lancers' lead to 11, but Larkin was just too cold.

“As a staff we felt like we were getting good looks,” Royals coach Deryn Carter said. “It's a matter of making some, and knowing how to adapt our offense to how different teams are going to guard you.”