Elgin 74, Larkin 43

Terell John excited Larkin's fans by scoring the first bucket of the game to take the early lead against the Elgin boys basketball team Monday night.

But the Royals surrendered the next 19 points to the visiting Maroons, who cruised from that point forward to complete a 3-game season sweep of their cross-town rivals with a 74-43 victory at the Class 4A Larkin regional.

Elgin guard Jeremy Granger scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first two quarters to vault the Maroons to a 40-18 halftime lead, an advantage they ballooned as high as 61-26 on Larry Berry's putback of an offensive rebound with 1:15 to play in the third quarter.

"We wanted to come in early, put them down and keep them down," said Granger, who also grabbed 10 rebounds. "We didn't want to give them no hope. We didn't want to let them in the game at all, and that's what we did. We didn't let them in the game and they had no chance at winning."

Seniors Armani Williams and D'Angelo Stewart added 14 points apiece for the third-seeded Maroons, who have won 11 of their last 13 games heading into Wednesday night's rematch against No. 2 St. Charles East (12-13) in a regional semifinal.

The Saints defeated the Maroons 85-77 in Elgin on Jan. 17.

Monday's game lacked the emotional intensity of most Elgin-Larkin meetings due to the mismatched records of the respective teams. Larkin finished the season with 1 win in 26 tries.

"I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but we really just wanted to get past them and, hopefully, go to the next round," Stewart said. "I feel good about it. I mean, they're not the best team in the world, but a win's a win at this time of year."

For the Royals, the loss marked the end of a forgettable season during which they tasted victory just once: against Chicago Military Academy-Bronzeville in the 15th-place game of the Elgin Holiday Tournament.

"It's been a rough year," Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "I can't wait to start coaching tomorrow if I didn't have softball. I'm ready to go right back at it, even after a year like this year.

"I hope I've conveyed to my kids that it takes work to get better, and we've got a lot of work to do."

John led Larkin with 11 points while Brandon Cooks added 7 points.