Larkin falls to St. Joe's in OT

High profile. High pressure. High expectations.

That's the prestigious Proviso West Holiday Tournament.

None of that seemed to faze the Larkin boys basketball team Monday night, though, in a 59-52 overtime loss to state power St. Joseph.

Sure, it was a defeat, but what was more important was the big-game experience, which will likely pay dividends in March.

Senior guard A.J. Hunter led the Royals with 19 points, while junior forward Christian Negron had 14. The team will play Proviso East at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Proviso East fell to another state power, Morgan Park, 77-58 Monday.

The Chargers were led by senior center Nick Rakocevic with 26 points, including all 9 of his team's points in the overtime period.

The Royals proved they weren't intimidated by the defending IHSA Class 3A state champions, using a 9-1 run in the first quarter and a 9-4 spurt at the end of the second to take a 29-28 halftime lead.

The first run was punctuated by jumper from the right corner from Negron at 2:56, and then a dunk off a miss 19 seconds later. The second was led off by a 3-pointer by Hunter at 3:06 and ended with another Negron dunk off a miss at 1:28.

And don't forget the fact that the Royals survived a 10-0 run by the Chargers midway through the second quarter that cut a 20-14 Larkin lead into a 24-20 deficit.

It was more of the same to start the third quarter. Larkin used a 11-2 run, including a Hunter 3 at 5:37 to take a 40-36 lead at its conclusion. A 3 bomb from Keyvon Kyles pushed the lead to 43-36 with 5:51 to go in the fourth quarter.

But the Chargers used an 8-1 run in the final 2:57 to push the game to overtime, where Rakocevic took over.