Royals pull mild surprise

Jeff Saurbaugh

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DEKALB -- The madness known as the IHSA state tournament got to Larkin and coach Larry Hight right away Monday night in the DeKalb Class 4A Regional.

Down by 12 in the third quarter and 10 starting the fourth, Hight lit into his fifth-seeded Royals during the timeout with a tirade they won't soon forget. Thoroughly pumped up, and using tenacious man-to-man pressure defense, they stormed back to force overtime against fourth-seeded St. Charles East before coming away with a stunning 57-54 victory when Phil Kohlhagen's 3-pointer went off the rim with three seconds left and the Royals' Jeff Saurbaugh batted the rebound far into the backcourt at the buzzer.

"This is a great victory for Larkin," Hight said. "These kids have been through a lot this year and deserve it."

The victory puts the Royals (8-19) in a matchup tonight against top seed St. Charles North (19-8).

"That (chewing out by Hight) caught everyone's attention," said Saurbaugh, who led Larkin with 19 points. "Everyone started bickering and arguing and then we just came together.

"We had to get this one. We didn't want it to end."

The Royals found themselves down 46-36 starting the fourth quarter despite achieving their No. 1 objective of rendering St. Charles East 6-foot-7 center Kevin Senechalle a non-factor. They got Senechalle in immediate foul trouble and held him to three points before he fouled out with 3:16 left in regulation, one of four Saints to foul out.

"We played the box-and-one on him and did it to perfection," Hight said. "We had Garrett McDaniels or Alex (Wahl) on him and then Terell John behind him and we wanted to make a sandwich.

"We knew that he tended to get frustrated, got mad if things didn't go his way."

Regardless, the Royals found themselves down because Jess Striedl stepped up inside for eight points and Zach Scott caught fire outside with 19 points for the Saints (9-18). Scott's scoring included three of his five 3-pointers in a third quarter when they outscored Larkin 16-9.

"It's stinks that Kevin's career would end with three points and only about five minutes played," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said. "Zach carried us for a while.

"We just couldn't take care of the basketball when we had to in the fourth quarter and overtime."

Larkin forced seven fourth-quarter turnovers and three more in overtime. The Royals held the Saints to one field goal over the final 9:35 of regulation and overtime.

"Jeff courageously led us back with his defense despite having four fouls," Hight said about Saurbaugh, who sank a layup with 40 seconds left in regulation to get Larkin within 52-50. Then Ramadon Adili tapped away the ball and missed a shot under the basket while heavily guarded, but John, who had 12 points, got fouled on the putback and tied the game (at 52) for the first time since the first quarter.

The Saints had two shots at the win but Scott's 3-pointer missed and Riley Scott's one-handed running putback attempt rimmed away at the buzzer.

In overtime, The Royals went ahead for good, 55-54 on two free throws by McDaniel, then Brandon Cooks made a steal and one of two foul shots.

Scott missed an 18-footer with 15 seconds left and Saurbaugh hit one foul shot, leaving the Saints with one last 3-point try by Kohlhagen.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of -- we came back and won nine after losing our first 11," Clodi said.

For the Royals, the March madness goes on.