Lake Zurich too big for Larkin

Larkin couldn't get a shot to fall early on and Lake Zurich rarely missed, which resulted in a 90-58 victory for the Bears at the Hoops for Healing boys basketball tournament in Woodstock Wednesday night.

Larkin (1-1) had trouble getting off a clean shot in the first half against taller Lake Zurich's intense man-to-man defense. The Royals connected on just 6-of-26 shots in the first two quarters, and the Bears used their decided height advantage to outrebound Larkin 22-12 over that span to take an 18-5 lead after a quarter and a 39-21 lead at intermission.

It didn't hurt that Lake Zurich (2-0) shot 14-of-32 in the first half, including 6-of-12 on 3-point attempts, while Larkin suffered through a field-goal drought that lasted 8:22.

"Our game plan going into it was to get it down low because we knew we had a height advantage," said Bears senior guard Connor Mooney, who led all scorers with 26 points. "Our big men are so talented. They find the shooters. That's how I got my shots. They paid a lot of attention to (6-foot-6) Brandon Kunz and (6-5) Danny Coleman, so they kicked it out to me, which made my job easier."

This mismatch boiled down to matchups. Coleman enjoyed an eight-inch height advantage over defender Jeff Saurbaugh and Larkin's Ryan Smith gave away four inches to Kunz. Coleman finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Kunz scored 16 points to go with a game-high 14 boards.

No excuses, Saurbaugh said afterward.

"We have to play better defense," Saurbaugh said. "I know they didn't miss much, but we gave them too many open looks."

Lake Zurich never cooled off. The Bears hit 21-of-32 shots in the second half to finish the game with an overall shooting percentage of 54.7 (35 of 64). Those weren't all easy baskets in the paint. Lake Zurich also sank 12-of-22 3-pointers for the game, led by 7 from Mooney, 2 shy of his career high.

"We could have played them a little more physical," Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "We were soft tonight. That's my only complaint, that we were soft. We've got to get more physical against a team like that. We'll work on that.

Saurbaugh and Smith scored 12 each to pace Larkin, and Terell John added 11 points and 7 rebounds.