Warren battles past Zion-Benton

It was a fight to the end.

And there was one in the middle, too.

The shameful antics of a small group of fans temporarily disrupted the flow of Friday’s North Suburban Conference Lake Division showdown between Zion-Benton and host Warren.

But they couldn’t overshadow the frenetic finish that was to be expected in a game between two of Lake County’s biggest powers.

Up 5 points with about two minutes remaining, Warren saw its lead shrink to just 1 point with 25 seconds left on the clock.

But then the Blue Devils got 2 key free throws by JoVaughn Gaines to take a 3-point lead into their final defensive stand. Zion-Benton forward Milik Yarbrough got a clean, straight-on look at the basket and fired up a 3-pointer from the top of the arc just before the buzzer sounded.

But it missed and Gaines secured the rebound to preserve a 48-45 victory for Warren.

The Blue Devils move to 17-3 overall and 7-0 in the Lake Division. Zion-Benton falls to 15-6 and 4-3 in the Lake.

“The last free throws … I was just saying to myself, ‘No pressure,’” said Gaines, who tied Jeremiah Jackson for team-high scoring honors with 13 points. “When I hit the first one, I knew I could make the second one.

“It was good to do that against Zion-Benton. It’s a big game. We kind of lost our composure there at the end and they came back on us. We knew we had to get it together or we would lose the game.”

At one point, fans wondered if the game was even going to continue on at all.

Slightly more than two minutes into the third quarter, a disturbance arose from the stands behind the Zion-Benton bench. A steady stream of people quickly ran down the aisle following those who were in the center of the action.

The melee nearly pushed into the Zee-Bees’ bench, but security and police officers cut it off and swiftly steered the offenders out the gym without further incident.

In the meantime, both teams had retreated to their locker rooms, staying there a good five to 10 minutes until the dust cleared.

Play resumed as if nothing happened, but Warren officials, even long after the game had ended, still weren’t sure what would have caused a fight in the stands to break out in the first place.

“We were startled by that a little bit,” Gaines said. “We came back out of the locker room and we were a little slow. We had to get everyone back together again.”

The Blue Devils eventually got on the same page and finished the third quarter on a high, up 34-25. The lead quickly increased to 12 points early in the fourth quarter, thanks to some aggressive work on the boards.

Warren out-rebounded Zion-Benton 32-16, and was particularly effective on the offensive glass. The Blue Devils got 12 offensive rebounds and a couple of clutch putbacks in the final minutes of the game.

“We shot poorly so we had to offensive rebound,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “We were able to compensate there. We didn’t play well, but we played hard. We got enough stops to get ahead.”

At times, though, the Blue Devils had trouble stopping Yarbrough. Just a freshman, he scored a game-high 16 points and was real close to draining that last-second 3-pointer that would have sent the game to overtime.

“He has a lot of good instincts,” Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth said of Yarbrough. “What I also like is that he is starting to get better on defense. He’s a multi-dimensional player.

“But I’m pleased with everybody tonight. I thought that everyone contributed in their own way and it was a team effort to fight back in it. And to get a shot at the end at the top of the key … that’s a good shot.”