Dantzler, Dundee-Crown stave off Larkin rally

There were a few aspects of the game Larkin boys basketball coach Deryn Carter was willing to grudgingly accept Wednesday.

He could accept a few mistakes at the guard position considering his injury depleted lineup lacked guards Trevor Whitehead (ankle), Vincent Sarangaya (eye) and Derrick Streety (foot).

And Carter could accept the fact his perimeter defenders might lose track of Dundee-Crown shooters on occasion, as they did in the second quarter when the Chargers sank three 3-pointers.

What Carter will never accept is a lack of effort, which is how the second year coach and Larkin graduate characterized his team's lackluster play in the first half of a 57-44 loss to Dundee-Crown at the Elgin Holiday Tournament.

Larkin (2-11) trailed Dundee-Crown (6-3) at halftime, 33-15, and went on to endure its 11th straight defeat.

"I had to leave before I did something I really regretted," Carter said of his halftime speech, parts of which resonated loudly enough to be heard in the adjacent Dundee-Crown locker room. "We were fired up as a staff at halftime. Nothing against Dundee-Crown; they played well. But we were and should have been embarrassed by the way we played in the first half.

"And it couldn't be more polar opposite of how we played in the second half."

After taking Carter's message to heart, Larkin looked like a different team in the third quarter. The Royals outscored the Chargers 17-11 and forced 6 turnovers via full-court pressure and a half-court trap. Junior guard Ian Fluhler led the Royals with 10 points in the quarter, when he sank two of his three 3-pointers. He finished with a game-best 20 points.

"We were playing poorly in the first half," Fluhler said. "We didn't have a lot of effort like we usually do at practice. We started bringing it in the second half because (Carter) energized us up."

D-C continued to struggle with Larkin's press and turned the ball over 8 more times in the fourth quarter.

"We kind of panicked a little bit," Dundee-Crown senior Ryan Smith said. "We didn't have guys coming back to the ball and we just kind of left Bruce (Dantzler) down there a few times. We didn't really bring the ball up as a team and they rattled us. They wanted to get us playing fast and that's exactly what we did. We just had to get ourselves to slow down a little bit."

Quantice Hunter's third 3-pointer of the second half pulled Larkin within 46-38 with 4:55 left in the game, but the Chargers responded with a 10-2 run to pull away for good.

Smith fueled the decisive push with a layup, a fast-break assist to junior Thomas McNally and 2 free throws.

"We played well in the first half and in the second half we kind of hung on," D-C coach Lance Huber said. "I guess that's the best way to describe it. They obviously came out and played with a lot more enthusiasm in the second half."

Dundee-Crown pulled away in the first half thanks to Dantzler, who blew open a 13-9 game with a personal 12-0 run. The 5-foot-10 junior guard closed the first quarter with a three-point play, opened the second period with consecutive 3-pointers from the arc, then drove to the hoop and drew a foul for another three-point play.

"I know we needed the win," said Dantzler, who led D-C with 16 points and 3 steals. "My teammates kept telling me they wanted me to step up. I knew I could, so I did it."

Larkin concludes its week at Elgin against Willowbrook (0-11) today at 8:45 a.m. Dundee-Crown will face Highland Park (6-7) at 10:15 a.m.