Rock Falls upends Larkin
ROCK FALLS - When the final buzzer sounded, Larkin boys basketball coach Larry Hight wasn't worried that the scoreboard showed his Royals with 14 fewer points than the Rock Falls Rockets.
As he walked back to the locker room, he cracked a smile and patted a few of his players on the back.
That's not to say that Hight doesn't mind losing. What it does say was how happy he was with his team's effort in a 76-62 loss to the Rockets at Tabor Gym Saturday night.
"This is a rough environment to play in, and they've got a very talented team," he said. "It was a great effort by our guys, but we just couldn't get any momentum going."
Rock Falls (7-2), ranked fourth in the AP preseason poll, used a quick 14-3 run over a 3-minute span in the first quarter to turn a 6-6 game into a 20-9 lead. Sophomore sharpshooter Jake Junis, who wasn't as sharp as usual, hit a hanger in the lane and followed that up with back-to-back deep 3-pointers from the top of the key to spark the run, and the Rockets never looked back.
"It took me a little time to get going," said Junis, who led the Rockets with 25 points, 4 assists, 5 steals and a block. "But once I finally hit those first two (3-pointers) there was no doubt I was going to keep shooting if they were going to keep leaving me open."
Larkin fought an uphill battle the rest of the way. The closest the Royals got after the initial Rock Falls run was 9 points (47-38) midway through the third quarter on Brian Cooks' 3-pointer.
Larkin got to within 10 (69-59) with 2:40 to play in the game, but as they had done the entire night, the Rockets had the answer. Dylan Austin nailed a deep 3, then scored on a layup on Rock Falls' next possession to push the lead back to 15 and essentially finish things off.
"We came out lethargic, we got behind early and we couldn't catch up," Larkin junior Alex Wahl said.
"We've got to get off to better starts," added Larkin senior Terell John. "We gave them a head start, and that was the difference."
John led the way with 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Royals, and Alex Wahl added 11 points - all in the second half - and 8 rebounds. Larkin outrebounded Rock Falls 42-28, but committed 10 more turnovers (24-14) and struggled with foul trouble. The Rockets shot 51 percent (26-for-51) from the floor.