Poor shooting dooms Larkin in loss to Batavia

It wasn't as if the Batavia boys basketball team had a bad first half Saturday afternoon.

After all, the Bulldogs led by 3 points at the break. But they knew their performance in the second half had to be better.

Batavia outscored Larkin 21-10 in the third quarter to break open the close game and went on to a 50-39 Upstate Eight River Division victory in Elgin.

"We knew that we had to play a lot harder than we did (in the first half)," Batavia junior Cole Gardner said. "We came out with tougher defense, which was pretty helpful for our offense."

The Bulldogs (10-8, 5-3) led 12-5 a minute into the second quarter after an 8-0 run, holding the Royals scoreless for almost 7 minutes. Larkin (4-16, 0-7) answered with a 9-2 run, capped by a Blake Grantham baseline jumper to take a 16-14 lead with 2:20 left in the first half. A 3-point play by Zach Strittmatter and a basket from Mike Jorgensen gave the Bulldogs a 19-16 lead at halftime.

The Royals' Ian Fluhler hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the third quarter to tie the game at 19-19. That's when Batavia got going. Jesse Coffey started the run with a basket and Mike Rueffer finished the quarter with a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left as the Bulldogs opened a 40-26 lead. Gardner and Jorgensen each had 6 points in the quarter.

Larkin went 4-for-10 from the floor in the quarter.

"I thought defensively we did a better job contesting their shots," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "And we had some guys hit some big shots."

The Royals didn't get within 12 in the final quarter until a Adarion Mahone's offensive rebound and putback with 4 seconds left. Mahone and Vincent Sarangaya each had 9 points to lead Larkin. Grantham added 8.

Larkin shot just 27 percent, 14 of 52, for the game.

"We didn't get enough quality looks," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "We weren't aggressive enough on offense."

Gardner finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Strittmatter and Jorgensen each added 9 points. Elliott Vaught finished with 8 points and 13 rebounds.