Elgin 75, Larkin 59
The Larkin boys basketball team proved something to itself by hanging with talented Elgin for three quarters in Friday night's Upstate Eight Conference opener at Chesbrough Field House.
But the speedy Maroons ultimately proved they can withstand their rival's best shot and keep right on rolling.
Larkin (0-4) established leads on three occasions in the third quarter and was still within 56-52 with 4:54 left in the final period before Elgin (4-1) ignited for a 13-0 run that sealed a 75-59 victory, Elgin's fourth straight.
"That's not the way we predicted it to happen but, hey, they played hard," Elgin senior guard Armani Williams said. "I mean, anything goes when you play in an Elgin-Larkin game."
Elgin led 32-27 at the half but Larkin shot 50-percent from the floor (8 of 16) in the third quarter when it capitalized on 6 Elgin turnovers.
The surprising Royals took their final lead of the game at 45-44 when Nick Bee drove the lane for a layup with 2:13 left in the period. Bee led Larkin with 18 points while Ryan Shriver added 15 and Cam Kinley posted 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"Nobody expected us to play that way," Bee said. "We hung with them when nobody expected it. We showed that when we work together we can play a lot better than we did in that (Downers Grove South) tournament."
Larkin junior Jeff Saurbaugh kept Larkin within striking distance with his 3-pointer that cut Elgin's lead to 56-52 with 4:54 to play.
After that it was all Elgin.
The Maroons exploded for a 13-0 run that ended all suspense. Armani Williams scored 6 points to fuel the run, Derrell Howse added a basket in transition and another by pounding the glass and Jeremy Granger capped the run with a steal and a rim-rattling dunk on a breakaway with 2:25 to play that put Elgin up 69-52.
"Finally, we said enough is enough," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "We're going to get the loose balls and rebounds and we're going to push it up the floor. That's what turned the tide. That's what changed the whole flow."
Armani Williams led all scorers with 26 points, including five 3-pointers in 14 attempts. Jeremy Granger added 14 points and 8 rebounds and D'Angelo Stewart finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds for Elgin.
Larkin, which relies on several football players in the lineup, had trouble running the floor with the Maroons in the game's late stages.
"This is exactly what I wanted: to concentrate on our stuff, which we did, but the fatigue factor came in," first-year Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "That's something we can work on with conditioning. A lot of these guys are football players and they're not in basketball shape yet."