Fremd keeps Larkin winless

It would have been real easy for the Larkin boys basketball team to have folded early in the third quarter Saturday against Fremd.

The winless Royals trailed by 19 points and hadn't scored in the opening 3½ minutes of the second half. But Larkin made a run, cut the deficit to 5 and made the Vikings work hard to leave Elgin with a 60-46 victory.

"We got the effort. We just didn't shoot well tonight," Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "We've just got to keep going at it"

Tough Fremd defense and poor Larkin shooting led to a 32-20 Vikings lead at halftime. The Vikings (4-6) held Larkin scoreless for a 3-minute span in the first quarter and held them without a field goal for a five-minute span in the second quarter. Larkin (0-10) shot 9-for-29 in the first half. The Vikings had five players -- Dan Bruno, Will Reising, Dan Itami, Jim Mundt and Joe Depaolis -- score at least 5 points in the opening half.

"After the first quarter, I thought we did a nice job defensively, rebounding and running what we wanted to do offensively," Vikings coach Bob Widlowski said.

Fremd scored the first 7 points of the third quarter to open up a 39-20 lead before Larkin went on an 11-0 run to get back into the game. Deonte McFadden scored 7 points during the run.

The Royals, who trailed 42-31 going into the fourth quarter, continued their comeback by scoring the first 6 points of the fourth quarter to cut the Vikings' lead to 5 at 42-37 with six minutes remaining.

"They sped us up a little bit and they converted our turnovers," Widlowski said. "I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure when they it down to (5)."

The Vikings' lead was still 5, 48-43 with 2:20 left, when the Royals began to foul. Fremd went 12-for-16 from the free-throw line the rest of the way. Mundt went 7-for-8 from the line in the final two minutes.

Bruno led Fremd, which also outrebounded the Royals 35-26, with 14 points. Mundt finished 13 and Reising added 10 points. Chris Klimek had 9 points and 7 rebounds.

McFadden's 13 points, 11 in the second half, led Larkin. Cam Kinley added 9 points and 7 rebounds.

"I thought Deonte came out and played his best game of the year," Hight said. "When we get we all of them playing their best games of the year things will change."