Convincing win for Larkin over Streamwood
The opening 3 minutes Thursday night were good the Streamwood boys basketball team.
After that, it was all Larkin.
The Royals scored the next 14 points and never looked back as they cruised to a 64-40 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory in Elgin.
“The main key was definitely win the game off defense,” said Larkin sophomore Derrick Streety, who finished with a game-high 17 points. “We were trying to push the ball off turnovers and get as many hands on as many as we can.”
Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle made a layup and hit a 3-pointer to give the Sabres (4-14, 1-5) a 5-0 lead, but they didn’t score again for more than 8 minutes. Larkin (10-6, 3-3), behind 7 points from Streety, went on a 14-0 run over those 8-plus minutes. Zach Harris hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter to get Streamwood within 5, 14-9. That would be the closest the Sabres would get.
“We just got beat by a better team,” said Streamwood coach Tim Jones, who was coaching against his son, Drew, a sophomore who starts for Larkin. “Too many turnovers. We didn’t take care of the ball.”
The Royals forced Streamwood into 8 turnovers in each the second and third quarters and 22 times total. Larkin led 27-18 at halftime as the teams traded 3-pointers in the final 5 seconds of the half. Larkin’s Quentin Ruff hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left. Streamwood’s Vince Williams took the inbounds pass and nailed a two-thirds court shot.
Streamwood wasn’t able to gain any momentum from Williams’ long-distance shot. Ruff, who finished with 12 points off the bench, and Kendale McCullum had layups within 20 seconds of each other off Streamwood turnovers to give the Royals a 39-24 lead with 2:53 left in the third quarter. The lead was 18, 44-26, heading to the fourth.
Joel Lightbourne scored 5 points in the first minute of the fourth and the Sabres scored the first 9 points of the quarter to get within 9, 44-35, with 6:04 remaining. But a 12-0 run, with five different players scoring, in less than 2½ minutes to increase the lead to 21, 56-35.
“We’ll take it,” said Royals coach Deryn Carter, whose team takes on undefeated Plainfield East Saturday night in West Chicago’s Railway Classic.
“We’re trying to string together positive performances.”
Lightbourne and Larkin-Guilfoyle each finished with 9 points to lead Streamwood.
McCullum and Blake Grantham each added 8 points for the Royals. Drew Jones finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds as his team defeated his father’s in their first varsity matchup.