Streamwood holds off Larkin
Larkin made one run Friday night to erase a 12-point deficit.
But Streamwood was able to stop the Royals' fourth-quarter run before completely blowing an 8-point lead with less than 5 minutes left to sweep the regular-season matchups with a 49-46 Upstate Eight Conference River Division boys basketball victory in Streamwood.
"You have to give Larkin a lot of credit. They kept coming at us," Sabres coach Tim Jones said.
A 3-pointer from D.J. Mustari with 3:28 left in the second quarter gave Streamwood (7-17, 3-7) a 21-9 lead. The Royals (4-20, 0-11) answered with a 12-0 run to tie the game at 21-21 with 48 seconds remaining in the first half. During the run, Larkin scored 9 points in 41 seconds as Ian Fluhler and Quantice Hunter each hit a 3-pointer and Cam Ross converted a 3-point play.
"I would have liked to not have been down 12," Royals coach Deryn Carter said. "It had a lot to do with our energy on the defensive end. I thought we would be over that by now. But we picked it up the rest of the game."
Streamwood's Tim Cohen scored the final 3 points of the half as the Sabres took a 24-21 lead at the half. The Sabres increased their lead to 7, 34-27, after three quarters, getting 6 points in the quarter from Bobby Post, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Another 3-pointer from Mustari gave Streamwood a 40-32 lead with lead with 4:49 remaining in the fourth quarter. Fluhler hit 3 free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt as the Royals tried to come back.
Fluhler then converted a 3-point play with 2:06 left to get Larkin within 2, 43-41. Mustari scored the next 6 points, a field goal and 4 free throws, to increase the lead back to 8, 49-41, with 25 seconds left.
"I think (Mustari) has really had a good year," Jones said. "He's played pretty heady, for the most part. He can shoot the ball. He handles the ball well. He directs the guys out on the floor."
Mustari led the Sabres with 15 points, 9 in the four quarter.
Fluhler's 16 points paced Larkin. Hunter added 10 points.
The teams will meet for a third time a week from Monday in the play-in game of the Class 4A Larkin regional.
"There won't be any secrets on that Monday," Carter said. "It will be about who executes better."
CL South 52, McHenry 52: Crystal Lake South stayed hot with a 53-52 victory at McHenry in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game. Point guard Ethan Breitenstein scored 16 points and senior Kevin Rogers sank a pair of 3-pointers en route to a 13-point night as the Gators (14-10, 4-6) won their fourth straight game.
Neuqua Valley 60, South Elgin 46: Sammy Sutter scored 23 points for the Storm, but 6-foot-4 Neuqua Valley senior Jim Stocki matched his 23 points as the Wildcats extended their 4-point halftime lead. "They did a good job of playing triangle-and-two defense on Sam and Jake (Maestranzi) the whole second half," South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. "We gave up way too many second-half points. The loss snapped a 4-game winning streak for South Elgin (13-10, 5-5).
Westminster Christian 60, Mooseheart 41: Andrew Mason scored a game-high 16 points, Ian Dutcher finished with 14 points and Brandon Cork added 11 to pace the Warriors (21-4, 7-1) in their regular-season finale.
Immaculate Conception 58, St. Edward 47: Ed O'Halloran scored 18 points and senior guard Michael Ellis added 13, but it wasn't enough for St. Edward (7-20, 2-10) to pull out a road win in the Suburban Christian Gold.
• Jerry Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.