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Negron on fire as Larkin routs St Charles North

Inside, outside, in transition, above the rim.

There are many ways to score in a basketball game and dynamic Larkin forward Christian Negron demonstrated just about all of them in a 67-42 victory against visiting St. Charles North in the Upstate Eight River Friday.

The 6-foot-6 junior scored a career-best 29 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, made 3 steals and blocked a shot in one of his best all-around performances in three varsity seasons.

The heavily recruited Royal even showed off his developing outside shot by sinking 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range, part of a 12-of-17 shooting performance overall.

"He's not going to shoot it as well as he did today every night, but when he does there's not a better player in the state in his class," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "He was special tonight."

"I think it was just one of those days," Negron said. "Warming up I kind of just felt it. I was blessed that my teammates kept passing me the ball so I was going to keep shooting."

Negron scored the first 11 points of the game for Larkin (9-7, 3-2), which held a 14-13 lead after one period.

The second quarter belonged to the Royals. They outscored St. Charles North (3-9, 1-5) 13-1 behind 9 more points from Negron, including an alley-oop dunk from a Keyvon Kyles pass seconds before halftime.

The North Stars missed all 12 second-quarter shots they attempted were outrebounded 12-6, which contributed to an overall 35-29 rebounding deficit. Larkin led 27-14 at the half.

"The way they were playing ball screens, we thought we could take advantage of it," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. "The second quarter we really didn't execute any of the sets we run that involve ball screens, so it left a lot to be desired as far as our execution of the game plan and playing smart. I thought we played very hard and for the most part we played together, but you have to play smart, too."

St. Charles North senior guard Michael Schroeder scored a team-high 15 points but had to work for it on 5-of-14 shooting. Larkin's man-to-man defense limited St. Charles North to 30-percent success from the field (15 of 50).

Meanwhile, Larkin sank 22 of 38 shots before Negron and other starters were rested 17 seconds into the fourth quarter with the Royals leading 53-35.

Negron helped put the game out of reach with 9 third-quarter points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

"We weren't as intense, I guess, and focused on what we needed to do to make it difficult for him," Poulin said of the Larkin standout. "Even if you do that, he's still good enough to control the basketball game. We didn't make it as tough as we could and he took advantage of us."

Grayslake Central 46, Hampshire 36: Grayslake Central's stifling defense was more than enough to overcome any offensive struggles as the Rams got past Hampshire, 46-36, in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division boys basketball action in Hampshire Friday night.

Jack Beckman scored 16 points and David Kienzle added 14 for Grayslake Central, but the real story was the Rams' defense. They held Hampshire to 31 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers. Hampshire seldom had an open look as the Rams contested shots and filled the passing lanes.

Grayslake Central took a 12-4 lead and Hampshire could never dig out of that early hole. The Whip-Purs took their only lead of the game at 23-22 on a putback by Xavier Bennett, but the Rams answered with a 9-0 run to lead 31-23. Hampshire then scored 7 straight to get within 1, but the Rams countered with a 7-0 run of their own.

From there, Grayslake Central (9-7, 3-3) was able to seal the victory at the free-throw line.

"We talked about executing and capitalizing on every opportunity we're going to get at the offensive end," said Grayslake Central coach Kosta Kougias. "We didn't necessarily do it. We got some nice passes, we got some nice looks, but didn't finish.

"We talked about picking It up defensively, which I thought we did. I thought that was the big difference tonight, us turning it up defensively and holding them to one shot."

Beckman and Kienzle each grabbed 5 rebounds as the Rams controlled the backboards, 24-17.

Sam Ruhlmann added 8 points for Grayslake Central, including 4 big free throws in the final period.

Luke Tuttle was the key to the Hampshire comeback, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Brennen Woods added 9 for the Whips (3-11, 1-4), but no one else scored more than 4.

"Ultimately, we lost too many 1-on-1 battles, whether it was getting a rebound or setting a screen, or (getting) a loose ball, we lost too many battles," said Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse. "They were the more physical team tonight."

Tuttle's third 3-pointer of the night made it 38-33, but that was as close as the Whips could get. The Rams made 6 of 8 free throws from there on, and Beckman scored on a short jumper to hold off the Whip-Purs.

- Allen Oshinski

Aurora Christian 76, Rockford Christian Life 63: In a battle of Northeastern Athletic Conference unbeatens, Jake Wolfe scored 21 points, Jertemiah Wright had 16 points and 7 assists and RD Lutze added 14 points to lead the Eagles (11-4, 5-0) to the win.

ACC 79, Fenton 67: Nick Faltz had 22 points, while Brett Czerak and Kyle Czerak added 19 each to lead the Chargers (8-7, 4-2) to the victory. ACC made 12 3-pointers in the game.

North Shore Country Day 65, Elgin Academy 36: Dee Robinson had 20 points for Elgin Academy in its Independent School League loss.

CL South 61, Huntley 55: Zach Geske scored 21 points, Josh Friesen had 16 and Wes Buckner 13 to lead Crystal Lake South (9-7, 3-1) to a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win. Matt Seng had 12 points and Lere Oladipo 11 for Huntley (6-10, 1-3).

Kaneland 58, Yorkville 44: In the Northern Illinois Big 12 East, Dylan Vaca had 16 points while Jacob Gomes and Mark Lilly added 13 each for Kaneland (8-5, 3-1).

Girls basketball

South Elgin 79, West Aurora 67: While the first quarter ended on a high note for host West Aurora, the second quarter belonged to South Elgin and ultimately so did Friday's Upstate Eight Valley Division girls basketball game.

The visiting Storm outscored West by 18 heading into halftime and then it was all a matter of maintaining double-digit leads en route to a 79-67 triumph.

The outcome produced some ironic results in terms of records as South Elgin picked up a seventh straight win to improve to 14-5 overall but only 2-2 in loop play. For West Aurora, it was the first conference loss in four outings, however, a fifth defeat in the last six games leveled the season ledger at 8-8.

Holding for a last shot, West Aurora's Kiyanna Rodgers drained a left side 3-pointer to give the Blackhawks a 26-25 lead. Unfortunately for the hosts, it turned out to be their only lead of the night.

The Storm opened the second quarter with Nadia Yang's drive down the lane, a Bridgette Williams basket and an old-fashioned three-point play from Emmy McIntosh for a 32-26 edge. West got back to within 2 when South followed with a pair of 7-0 runs sandwiched around a 5-4 span before creating a 53-36 halftime.

Jasmin Duncan came off the bench to spark the Storm accounting for her 6 points during the final 1:13 of the second quarter, demonstrating the kind of balance that had coach Dan Mandernack thrilled with the win.

"Yes it got a little ugly with some silly turnovers, fouls and times when they got three or four rebounds on us, but at the end of the day we're 14-5 and 2-2," Mandernack said.

"Those runs were definitely big," Yang agreed. "Once we got the momentum going in our favor we got into a better flow. This win gets us back into the conference flow and hopefully serves as a statement as we get ready to face Bartlett (next Friday)."

Yang finished with 10 points as did Teagen Pompa with all five Storm starters posting twin-figure totals. Williams' game-high 19 was backed up by 16 from McIntosh and 14 from Mackie Kelleher.

"Conference road wins are huge in my book and when it comes to baskets, I'll take them anyway I can," Williams said after a display of hustle from end to end. "As a track athlete, I don't mind running and it often helps me make up for the times I may lack size against an opponent. The real key though is that we're a defensive team. We focus on that knowing that good defense builds opportunities on offense."

Mandernack gave an extra pat on the back in that respect to Yang.

"Scouting them, we knew 12 (Carley Frauenhoff) can really shoot 3s; Nadia wanted that assignment," Mandernack noted. "As a four-year starter she stuck with her and I believe kept her from scoring one quarter."

Technically, West Aurora had the better of the visitors in the third (12-8) and fourth (19-18) quarters, but that wasn't enough.

"We outrebounded them, had fewer turnovers, more assists, a good free throw percentage, just about everything we wanted but the final score," West Aurora coach Connie Siljendahl said. "They just shot lights out in that second quarter, it seemed like they never missed.

"Our defense has been pretty good, but in that span we were a bit slow or slacked off just a touch. Ashley (Williams) had a really good game, one of her best offensively. SaMya (Hunt) and Kiyanna played hard as did Kayla (Battle), but it just wasn't enough tonight," Siljendahl said.

Williams led the Blackhawks with 17 while Rodgers and Battle added 13 and 10, respectively.

Both teams were minus notable players with West's Teryn Griffin sidelined by a concussion while South starter Kennedy Wells is out three to four weeks due to a broken right hand.

- Steve Nemeth

Bartlett 65, East Aurora 18: The East Aurora girls basketball team stood little chance of challenging Bartlett Friday night.

The Tomcats' Bianca Esparza was summoned from the pregame warm-ups against Bartlett to deal with a death in the family.

"(Esparaza) hit seven 3s against South Elgin last Friday," Bartlett coach Dave Mello said. "We geared all week in practice to stop her. It wasn't East Aurora at full strength."

Bartlett, with fellow unbeaten West Aurora losing to South Elgin, took the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division lead with a dominant 65-18 victory over East Aurora.

Bartlett (11-7, 4-0) never trailed in the contest. Kaitlin Brohan scored 13 of her game-high 15 points in the opening half as the Tomcats did not even have double digits until midway through the third quarter.

The Bartlett senior was ably helped by countless teammates as 11 players in all ended up scoring.

Bartlett was a team without peer during the game. The Hawks gathered virtually every rebound against East Aurora and scored at will in the process. Bartlett outscored the Tomcats 12-3 to open the first quarter.

It was only magnified after that moment for Bartlett.

The spread was 20-4 in the second quarter as Brohan and Shelley Lyjak combined for 14 points during the run. The Hawks (11-7, 4-0) took an insurmountable 30-8 lead at halftime, and the carnage only became worse to start the second half.

Playing selfish basketball at its finest, Bartlett had assists on 4 of its 5 second-half baskets. There were also a plenitude of blocked shots as the Hawks totally dominated.

"I think we had a really good effort," said Bartlett senior Jamie Kenna, who was one of 15 Bartlett players to see action. "We fought hard the whole game. Everyone on the team did well. Everyone deserves to play."

The Bartlett reserves had their moment to shine during the second half. Sarah Jurek, Ashley Gal, Kashah Objuend and Nina Pavell all scored for the Hawks during the second-half rout.

Kayla Hare was particularly effective as an assist agent with her plentiful second-half helpers.

"We knew they were without their best player," Brohan said. "We came out with out with good intensity. My teammates got me open, and I got to the (free-throw) line."

Jeanette Villezcas' 9 points lead East Aurora (6-13, 1-2).

- Kevin McGavin

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