Warren holds off Mundelein
The clock hit zero and rowdy fans from the Warren student section spilled out from the stands and made a beeline for center court.
They were screaming and cheering and searching for their heroes in white jerseys to hug and congratulate.
One fan, as he had all night, let his dry-erase board do his talking.
He used it during the course of Friday’s Barrington sectional championship game between his Blue Devils and Mundelein to display all kinds of clever, scribbled messages.
As he made his way to center court in the melee, he raised the dry erase board high above his head. On it was written, “Dog Pound … Here we come.”
That was all anybody needed to know.
By methodically steaming to a 63-55 victory over No. 2 Mundelein, top-seeded Warren not only won its eighth sectional championship in school history but also clinched a spot in Tuesday’s supersectional against Niles North at Waukegan.
“We’re really excited about this,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said of the sectional title. “But next week (at Waukegan) is the really big one.”
A win at Waukegan’s historic old gym, which is home of the Bulldogs and affectionately known as the Dog Pound, would earn the Blue Devils a trip downstate for the first time since 1999 and just the second time ever.
Clearly, emotions will be running high at the Dog Pound, just as they have many times for Warren.
Waukegan often hosts the sectional in Lake County. And Warren has won many of its eight sectional championships at Waukegan.
But in 2009, the last time the Blue Devils played there in the title game, the experience wound up being excruciating.
The host Bulldogs pulled out a 2-point victory when Jereme Richmond hit a miraculous halfcourt shot at the buzzer. That came immediately after Brandon Paul hit 3 free throws with 4.7 seconds left to give Warren a 1-point lead.
It was a drastic change of events for the Blue Devils, who thought they were on the verge of a win.
Darius Paul, now a junior forward on the current Warren team, watched his brother live through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all within the span of five seconds that night.
He’s vowed that Tuesday night at Waukegan will work out differently for the Blue Devils, who moved to 29-3 with their win over Mundelein.
Of course, it would help the cause for Warren if the young Paul is as dominant as he was against Mundelein. He pumped in 17 points, hauled down a whopping 17 rebounds and dished out a team-leading 4 assists to lead Warren in every major category.
“After that loss (in 2009) and seeing Brandon go through that, we’ve got to get a win there at Waukegan,” Paul said. “I’ve never played there, so I’m excited about that. And I would like to (erase the tough memories from that game). I really want to win and to help us keep winning so that we can win state.”
The Blue Devils have all the makings of a state-caliber team, starting with depth and balance.
Even though Paul was so spectacular, Warren still got double-figures out of two other players. Junior guard JoVaughn Gaines had one of his best games of the season, scoring 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. And junior center Nathan Boothe added 10 points.
“We knew Mundelein was going to come at us real big,” Gaines said. “We made sure to bring our A-game.”
Four other Blue Devils also scored, including Jeremiah Jackson, who was a load inside and finished with 8 points.
“Warren has so many guys coming off the bench and there’s just no let-down,” said Mundelein coach Dick Knar, whose team wraps the season with a 29-5 record, marking the most wins in school history. “You can’t ever say, ‘Oh, good, this guy or that guy is out.’ Because they just bring in another set of guys who can do their own things really well.
“I mean, this Warren team has a legit shot at winning state because you have to play your (butt) off to beat these guys.”
Mundelein, which got a game-high 30 points out of determined sophomore guard Robert Knar and 15 points out of senior center Ryan Sawvell, the team’s two workhorses all season long, was doing just that for parts of the game.
The Mustangs shot out to a 10-6 first quarter lead and were down just 24-22 at halftime after Paul hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer.
It was quite a strong opening statement for Mundelein, which had lost its two regular season North Suburban Lake Division games to Warren by an average of 29 points.
But Warren turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, capitalized on some Mundelein turnovers and wore the Mustangs down inside with its height advantage to pull away.
Warren built a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and despite some spectacular shots by Knar, Mundelein couldn’t cut its deficit to fewer than 8 points.
“We’ve been resilient all year,” Knar said. “But we kind of just collapsed. It was pure exhaustion. Making runs at them was hard. We did the best we could do and we were ready to play. But Warren is tough. If they play like that, they can definitely make a run downstate.
“I hope that they do because I want to say we lost to the state champs.”