Buffalo Grove defense does in Larkin

It wasn't as if the Buffalo Grove boys basketball team wasn't playing poor defense in the first 12 minutes of its game Saturday afternoon against Larkin.

But the defense the Bison played over the next 3 minutes is what turned the game around.

Buffalo Grove turned a 1-point deficit into a 9-point lead with a 13-3 run and didn't look back as it defeated the Royals, 74-57, in the seventh-place game of the 35th annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Holiday Tournament.

"I was happier with the 3 than the 13 on that run," Buffalo Grove coach Ryan O'Connor said. "Defensively is where we really need to focus on."

After a Carlito Singleton basket with 4:06 left in the second quarter gave Larkin (7-6) a 21-20 lead, Mike Cornely hit a 3-point to give the Bison a 23-21 lead. That was the sixth and final lead change. The Bison (9-4) turned up the pressure, resulting in easy baskets off steals. Kevin Mulligan's basket with 1:01 remaining in the half made it 33-24 Buffalo Grove.

"For the last three (games) we've been pretty bad with handling the ball," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter, who saw his team commit 27 turnovers. "We haven't practiced in a while and it's starting to show."

Larkin cut the deficit to 4, 51-47, with 1:05 left in the third quarter after a Ryan Smith 3-pointer. But the Bison scored the final 5 points of the quarter, including a 3-pointer from Nick Prus with a second remaining, to take a 56-47 lead into the fourth.

The Royals didn't get any closer than 8 in the fourth quarter.

Mulligan's 18 points led the Bison. Prus finished with 14. Dan Recht and Cornely each had 11.

Smith led Larkin, which lost its final three games of the tournament, with 22 points, including hitting six 3-pointers. Jermaine Clements added 12, 10 in the first half.

"It's good to gauge against some of the better teams in the Northwest suburbs," Carter said. "Winning that first game we knew that we were going to have tough games."