Larkin makes a statement with win over Geneva
Two-time defending Upstate Eight River champion Larkin was eliminated from three-peat contention long ago, but that didn't keep the Royals from having a say in which team inherits their crown.
Make that teams, actually.
Larkin forced 18 turnovers and scored regularly in transition to knock off Geneva 57-51 in the UEC River finale for both teams in Elgin on Wednesday.
"To us, this was no upset," said Larkin guard Charles Sanders, who finished with 6 points, 4 steals and 4 assists. "It was us letting people know we're Larkin, we're coming. This was basically a debut for everybody who doubted us."
Geneva (25-3, 12-2) which had already clinched a share of the league title, had to settle for a shared crown with St. Charles East (22-3, 12-2), which defeated Elgin 70-39 on Wednesday.
Larkin limited its turnovers to 12 and won the rebounding battle 29-26, but those stats don't tell the whole story, according to Geneva coach Phil Ralston.
"This was more about us not taking care of our business," he said. "We did not come ready to play Geneva basketball. It started right from the tipoff. We run one set, we score out of it. After that we decided we were going to make it a track meet. It's poor basketball IQ on us and shame on us for doing it."
Geneva took a 16-11 lead through one quarter as Pace Temple scored 7 of his 14 points.
Larkin (18-8, 9-5) responded with 12-2 run at the start of the second, fueled by 4 of 6-foot-6 sophomore Christian Negron's 13 points and a technical foul on Ralston. The Royals led 25-24 at the half and 37-33 through three quarters.
The Vikings pulled within 43-40 on an old-fashioned three-point play from Temple with 5:17 to play.
However, a 6-2 Larkin push spanning the next 2:50 featured a high-arcing putback by guard Keyvon Kyles, a pair of Charles Sanders free throws and a dunk by Negron, giving the Royals a 49-42 lead.
"They're one of the top-ranked teams in the state and it took a lot of effort to beat them," Negron said. "It starts defensively. We were able to get some stops and then push in transition. And then when they did slow the game down, we were just patient in our offense, taking it one possession at a time."
Geneva was unable to draw closer than 5 points until Mike Landi's 3-pointer pulled his team within 55-51 with 17 seconds left. That was as close as the Vikings would come.
"We didn't come out as focused as we normally do," Geneva 6-8 junior Loudon Vollbrecht said. "We didn't start with an inside game. We started shooting from the outside, which isn't what we normally do. And our defense wasn't as strong as normal. We have to touch base with those things and get them back to the way they used to be."
It was a critical win for the confidence of Larkin, whose eight losses came mostly at the hands of elite playoff contenders like Morgan Park, Rockford Auburn, Geneva and St. Charles East. Larkin coach Deryn Carter said defense was the key.
"The philosophy defensively was just to cause chaos," he said. "If they were going to score, that's fine, but they couldn't score in their offense. That's kind of what we were trying to do and for the most part we did it. I'm definitely proud of the guys and I could tell by their body language and their emotion after they were proud of their effort. I hope it's a building block going into Tuesday."