Rock Falls' hot 3-point shooting does in Larkin

Larkin boys basketball coach Larry Hight was quick to point out the main reason for the Royals' 66-52 home loss to Rock Falls on Saturday evening.

"Those guys were hitting their threes and us missing them," Hight said.

Rock Falls freshman Jakob Junis hit 3-pointers on back-to-back-to-back possessions in the first quarter to spark a 16-2 run. The Rockets (7-3) shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the first quarter and 5-for-11 in the first half.

The Royals, however, missed their first 13 3-point attempts. By the time Larkin's Justin Kalusa hit a 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter, the game was basically over.

"Sometimes we're not disciplined enough in our offense," Hight said. "We're shooting too many threes and we were still in the game. We didn't need to do that."

The 16-2 first-quarter run turned an 8-7 Rock Falls lead into a 24-9 advantage. Though the Rockets never stretched their lead to more than 17, the lead only fell into single digits for 15 seconds in the fourth quarter.

"We've been trying to get away from (shooting a lot of 3-pointers)," Rock Falls coach Tom Frank said. "Our freshman hits three in a row in the first quarter and it kind of gets contagious."

Rock Falls' offense became stagnant and Larkin took care of the basketball as the Royals managed to keep it a game.

The Rockets did not make a field goal in the final quarter, going 17-for-26 from the free-throw line.

Larkin hit five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but went 6-for-25 from behind the arc as the Royals fell to 0-8.

"Their spirits are up," Hight said. "There's no negatives there at all. We're just searching for that win. It's going to come."

Junis led all scorers with 20 points, 13 in the first quarter. Rian Nailor added 14 points and Michael Lauts finished with 10.

Nick Bee's 13 points led Larkin. Kalusa finished with 10 off the bench. Ryan Shriver had 9, all coming on 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.