St. Charles North survives Larkin

Nearly everyone agreed in postgame comments Friday night that host St. Charles North played a terrific first quarter against Larkin in what looked like it would be a fairly easy Upstate Eight River Division victory.

Everyone also agreed that Larkin, winless in conference action, put one mighty scare into the front-running North Stars. The Royals battled hard to forge a 33-33 tie early in the fourth quarter before failing to score in the game’s final six minutes and falling 42-33 to St. Charles North.

Ultimately, St. Charles North (11-9, 6-2) used its size advantage to tally 28 points on inside baskets, with Josh Mikes (game-high 19 points) and Kyle Nelson (12 points, game-high 8 rebounds) leading the way.

But Larkin (4-18, 0-9) used its speed and nonstop motion to make the North Stars earn this key victory in the game’s final minutes — and cause St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin to conduct a lengthy locker room meeting with his team afterward.

“We’re always happy with a conference win, but we thought we could play better for the entire course of the game,” Poulin said, as his team stayed in the conference title hunt with Elgin (6-2) and St. Charles East (5-2). “The first quarter is what we were looking for. We were very unselfish and got high-percentage looks, and with our talent, when we share the ball, it’s easier to score, so I was proud of that first quarter.”

In a first quarter that ended with a 14-7 St. Charles North lead, the North Stars had seven baskets inside the lane, guard Quentin Payne had three assists, and Nelson blocked three shots.

When Payne scored on a breakaway layup after Mikes turned in a leaping block on a Brent Cooks drive to the basket, the North Stars were up 18-9 and cruising early in the second quarter.

But the Royals had other ideas as center Blake Grantham scored all of his team-high 9 points from late in the second quarter to midway in the third, helping Larkin tie the game at 29-29 going into the final period.

“There was a lull in our intensity in the second and third quarters, but I could be reading too much into it,” Poulin said. “It could be that Larkin has really improved, and they play hard.”

When Ian Fluhler sank a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, it lifted Larkin to its only lead of the night at 32-31, serving notice that the Royals could be a dangerous spoiler in the final weeks of the regular season.

When Fluhler answered a Brandon Baymon basket by hitting one of two free throws, the game was tied at 33-33 with 6:13 left, but it would be the last time Larkin would score.

Mikes took over at that point, scoring two inside baskets and making two free throws, while Larkin struggled with five missed shots and five turnovers in the game’s final minutes.

“I think we just locked down on defense and we knew we had to finish this game out,” Mikes said. “We had a size advantage obviously and the game plan was to get the ball inside and work off of that.”

Mikes praised Larkin’s effort, saying their won-loss record is deceiving.

“Larkin always comes out and plays hard, they really are a great basketball team and they are going to come out and run and try to get under your skin,” Mikes said. “You just have to fight through that.”

Larkin coach Devyn Carter felt his team’s poor shooting early in game (8 of 27 from the floor in the first half) put extra pressure on the Royals down the stretch.

“It was a combination of us not making shots early and then when we really needed them, we just couldn’t knock them down,” Carter said. “We passed up some shots we should have taken and then forced the issue when it wasn’t there, and it hurt us.

“We’ll use it as a learning environment, playing against a tough team on the road, and hopefully we’ll grow from it and continue to play hard,” Carter added. “I’m sure he’s (coach Poulin) disappointed his team didn’t play better, but there are two sides to every coin and I would like to think that it had a little bit to do with us and how we played as a team.”

For Poulin, whose team has tough conference road games at Elgin and Geneva still on tap, it’s a matter duplicating Friday’s first quarter into full games.

“We showed ourselves we could play North Star basketball, and we did that in the first quarter,” Poulin said. “We need to play North Star basketball for 32 minutes, and we know we can.”