Larkin’s main goals entering Saturday’s Hinkle Holiday Classic opener against host Jacobs was to play hard and come away with a win.

Both missions accomplished for the Royals.

Capitalizing on 28 Jacobs turnovers and converting those miscues into 22 layups, Larkin posted a 73-60 win.

The Royals (5-7) will play Barrington in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Monday.

Jacobs (7-3) will play Grant at noon Monday.

“We came out from the opening tipoff and played hard,” Larkin coach Anton Wilkins said. “We take great pride in our defense. We played with our traps and press and they were really good. We got a lot of easy shots off our defense. We really executed well on the defensive end. This was a great win against a great team at their place.”

Larkin started taking control of the game to end the first half.

The Royals, holding a 23-21 lead, scored the final 11 points of the half to take a 34-21 lead at intermission. Jahvion Sowers scored seven points and Jayden Bailey four.

The Royals extended their lead to 18 at 47-29 with 3:22 left in the third quarter.

Jacobs, led by 10 points from Elijah Bell, sliced the Royals lead to 50-40 after three quarters.

The Golden Eagles didn’t get any closer.

Sowers led the winners with 22 points and three 3-pointers.

“We really take pride in our defense and playing hard,” Sowers said. “We were really excited to play against a good team like Jacobs. It was a big win and it is off to the next round.”

Jayden Bailey added 17 points with six assists.

“This was a great win,” Bailey said. “We came out with great energy on defense. Our defense and traps were good and we got a lot of easy shots off our defense.”

Bell led the Eagles with 24 points and two 3-pointers, including 16 points in the second half.

Carson Goehring and Jack Magee had 10 points apiece for Jacobs. Samson Averehi added nine.

“From the opening tip, Larkin played harder than us,” Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said. ”We need to figure that out. When you don’t play hard the ball doesn’t bounce your way and we started complaining to the refs. This has happened a couple of times at home this season."

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251220/boys-basketball/boys-basketball-larkins-effort-keys-win-over-jacobs/