Larkin can't contain talented East Aurora

The Larkin boys basketball team made its run early in the third quarter Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Royals, East Aurora had an answer.

Larkin got within 1, 35-34, 2 minutes into the second half before the Tomcats responded with a 13-2 run to close the third quarter en route to a 59-44 Upstate Eight Conference victory in Elgin.

"To be where we were, that's shows some encouragement, but we still have to take care of the ball," Royals coach Deryn Carter said. "If we can continue to get better at that, we can make some noise."

The Tomcats (13-7, 6-0) again played without Ryan Boatwright, who has an injured ankle. They got plenty of offense from Snoop Viser and Tramell Weathersby, who came off the bench Saturday. The two combined for 45 points, including 29 in the first half.

Larkin (7-14, 1-6), which came out strong and led 9-4 in the first quarter, trailed by 7, 33-26, at halftime. After Gio Padilla's basket to open the second half gave the Tomcats a 35-26 lead, the Royals' Jermaine Clements hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Alex Wahl nailed a short jumper to get Larkin within 1, 35-34.

Weathersby and the Tomcats then took control. The senior scored five unanswered points and Viser added another basket as East Aurora regained an 8-point lead, 42-34, less than 2 minutes after the Royals got within 1.

"We extended our effort a little bit," Tomcats coach Wendell Jeffries said. "We were much quicker than they were. When they did make a run at us, we made some adjustments and changed our defense and did a lot of pressing."

"Not that it was sloppy, but it's a speed that we don't want to play at," Carter said of the Tomcats' run. "It's a speed that they are used to playing at and good at playing at. We were playing out of our comfort zone."

The Tomcats extended the run to 13-2 to end the quarter and took a 48-36 lead into the fourth.

East Aurora led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter to remain unbeaten in conference, setting up a showdown with Neuqua Valley next Friday.

Viser led the Tomcats with 24 points and four blocks. Weathersby added 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Clements' 15 points paced Larkin, which lost its 11th straight game. Garrett McDaniel finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Royals played without Carlito Singleton, Drew Simonini and Leandre Lee - all out with injuries. Lee and Simonini are Larkin's primary ballhandlers and were missed as the Royals committed 25 turnovers.