How Elgin Larkin beat the East E-Rabs in Class 4A sectional semifinals

HUNTLEY — Elgin Larkin shot too well early, making all three of its 3s to open a quick nine-point lead.

“They just came out hot,” East center Matthew Hoard said after the E-Rabs lost 75-59 to Larkin in Tuesday’s Class 4A Huntley Sectional semifinals. “They were hitting some tough shots that we guard well. We can’t do nothing about that.”

East, it turned out, could survive Larkin shooting well. But they couldn’t deal with Larkin shooting too often. The Royals retrieved eight of their first 10 missed shots. That helped them score 21 points on their first 11 possessions.

“We wanted to force them to take tough shots,” East coach Roy Sackmaster said. “We did a better job of that after they got hot. They were only 11-for-28 at halftime, so our defensive field goal percentage was OK. But it’s really frustrating when you work that hard to get the stop and you don’t finish off that stop.”

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“That’s on us,” said Hoarde, who scored 18 points. “We’ve got to box out and we didn’t do that. We didn’t execute.”

The frustrating thing was the E-Rabs (24-10) were great on the offensive boards themselves. They finished with a 19-13 edge in offensive rebounds after an early 8-2 deficit. That helped them rally from behind down 11-2 after those early 3-pointers to have a chance to tie early in the third quarter.

“I was just in the right position on offense,” Hoarde said. “On defense I wasn’t in the right position. I should have done more to get defensive and offensive rebounds.”

East stayed close by making 6 of its 8 attempts from 3-point range in the first half. A Hoarde mid-range jumper pulled the E-Rabs to within 30-28 early in the third quarter. J’Siah Jefferson and NeSean Hardaway then missed shots that would have tied it. That began a stretch where East shot 0-for-7 and made two turnovers on the way to a 29-7 run for Larkin (29-3).

“We didn’t get it done,” East forward Latrell Kyles (10 points) said. “We needed rebounds and stops and we couldn’t stop them. We weren’t boxing out and getting rebounds, going up strong with the ball. Or anything.”

“Missed layups, missed rebounds,” Jemere Jefferson, who led East with 22 points, said of that fateful stretch. “That was basically the whole game.”

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Larkin never made another 3 after the game’s first three minutes, but made 30 of 34 free throws — to East’s 2 of 9 — and only had four turnovers the entire game. That, and Larkin's early rebounding, was way too much for East. But the E-Rabs continued their best five-year stretch in school history with this season’s 24 wins and a regional title.

The E-Rabs are 111-38 the last five seasons, including 67-16 in the NIC-10. After having only four 10-win seasons in conference play in 26 years from 1991-2016, the E-Rabs have now won double-digit conference games six seasons in a row.

“It was an OK season,” Hoarde said. “I know we could have done better. But we can’t do nothing now but come back better next year.”

Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @MattTrowbridge. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: East E-Rabs rally in second quarter before fading in third Larkin loss