Larkin hands St. Charles E. 3rd straight loss

Statistics seldom lie.

Larkin's backcourt combination of Derrick Streety and Quantice Hunter combined for 35 points and 15 rebounds while leading the Royals (9-6, 2-4) to a convincing 62-43 Upstate Eight Conference River Division basketball triumph over host St. Charles East (8-7, 3-3) Saturday night.

While shooting 50 percent from the floor (21-of-42), the Royals held St. Charles East to 33 percent field-goal accuracy (15-of-45), earned a 35-18 rebounding edge and generally outhustled and outplayed the Saints throughout the night in their own gym.

It was about the best way for the Royals to forget Wednesday's emotional 59-52 overtime loss to Elgin.

"Wednesday night at Elgin was about as high energy a game as I've been around," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "We challenged them - was it just because it was Elgin-Larkin or have we turned the corner as a group?

"Tonight at least, we carried that momentum into this game and played hard. Hopefully that will continue on the rest of the year."

Streety, a 5-10 sophomore guard, helped jump-start the Royals by hitting his first 4 shots all on layups off penetration.

"I was just trying to push the ball," said Streety, who finished with 19 points. "We were trying to go right past them and score."

Larkin built an early 15-7 lead before Dominic Adduci's three-point play allowed the Saints to narrow the gap to 15-10 after the opening quarter.

Although the Saints were still well within striking distance, trailing 26-19 at halftime, a closer look at the stat sheet told a different story.

While owning a commanding 20-5 lead on the glass, the Royals also held Saints junior leading scorer Kendall Stephens (8 points) to just 2 first-half points.

"Our quickness is finally starting to show," said Carter. "That tracks back to Elgin as well. If we can guard Elgin the way we did, how do we not transfer that over? No disrespect to anyone we play but Elgin's No. 1 in the Daily Herald (area rankings) for a reason."

After Luke Ludke's layup pulled the Saints within 26-21 in the first minute of the third quarter, the Royals closed the period on a 17-8 run to extend their lead to 43-29.

A driving layup by Adduci (20 points) and Stephens' 3-pointer helped the Saints close the gap to 43-34 with 6:33 remaining.

But the Royals put the game under wraps with another 10-3 spurt, fueled by Hunter (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Quentin Ruff (11 points).

"We learned we can stick with bigger teams tonight," said Streety.

While Larkin snapped its 3-game losing streak, St. Charles East lost for the fourth time in 5 games.

"It almost looked like we didn't practice out there," said Saints coach Patrick Woods. "For me, that's the hardest part because we work too hard to look like that.

"We didn't play like it was a conference championship game and in theory it was for us to keep in the running for the conference title," added Woods. "As a coaching staff, we're very frustrated because we're fierce competitors but we can't go out and play the game for them. It's kind of on them at this point.

"It's just disappointing to lose three games in a row. We're at a low point right now."