St. Charles East holds off Larkin
Usually an 18-point swing from Larkin’s boys basketball team helps the Royals take control.
Against St. Charles East, the Royals needed a huge offensive output just to get back into the game.
The Royals battled a 28-7 deficit and 20 first-half points from Saints’ guard Kendall Stephens closely, but just couldn’t take a lead before losing 57-51 on Larkin’s senior night.
“Give all the credit to Larkin,” said Saints’ guard Dominic Adduci, who scored 4 of his 11 points in the final 2 minutes of the game. “We got out to that big lead and they never let down.
Larkin had East (13-11, 8-2) within a basket four different times in the fourth quarter, coming within 2 points twice. Sophomore Kendale McCullum (7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) split a pair of free throws with 1 minute, 55 seconds left to bring the game to 51-49.
Adduci answered back with a bucket at the other end giving East a 53-49 advantage. Derrick Streety (10 points) made a pair of free throws after drawing a foul while bringing up the ball to bring Larkin back to 53-51 with 1:05 left.
Larkin would not score again.
“It was really difficult,” Larkin guard Quentin Ruff said of the comeback. “We had to play very hard to dig ourselves out. “
Larkin (14-10, 5-7) trailed 28-7 after Stephens (3 steals, 2 assists) scored 12 first-quarter points. He shot 9 of 11 in the first half and shredded through the Larkin defense.
He may have been partially looking for some revenge from a 19-points Larkin win at East on January 14th.
“He’s a big-time player,” Royals’ coach Deryn Carter said of Stephens. “He had the look in the first half that he wanted to let us know that the first time we played it was a fluke.”
The Royals responded by holding the Purdue-bound Stephens scoreless in the second half as he went 0 for 6 from the floor. Larkin outscored East 26-24 in the second half. Center Antonio Pipes led Larkin with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
“The shots just didn’t fall,” Stephens said. “They had more intensity in the second half. I was getting looks.”
The Royals were 1-for-15 from the floor in the first period and turned the ball over 7 times. The Saints scored 10 points off those turnovers including Stephens getting a steal and finding Dom Urso for a 3-pointer as time expired in the first quarter. Urso finished with 10 points making a pair of 3-pointers in the first half.
“Urso is a great shooter, we see it every day in practice,” Saints’ coach Patrick Woods said. “It’s nice to see him getting the opportunity to do it in a game.”