Warren punches ticket downstate

Home from college for a few days this week, Ceola Clark felt like he was back in high school.

The former Warren basketball star showed up at practice a few times as the Blue Devils were preparing for Tuesday's Waukegan supersectional game against Niles North.

He wanted to do whatever he could to help.

But Clark, now a redshirt junior guard at Western Illinois who played in two supersectionals for Warren, knew he had even more to offer than an extra hand.

He had his heart.

He asked the coaches if he could say a few words to the guys in the locker room before the game. And Clark wanted to include a few other star players from some of Warren's most successful teams who had also returned home for the big game.

So, Mitchell Moore and Marcus Lewis joined Clark in the locker room as well.

“I just really wanted us to say something because we know what it's like to be this close,” Clark said. “We were never able to get downstate. We just couldn't get over the hump and I didn't want them to have those tears that we had.”

If there were any tears shed by Warren players, they were tears of joy.

The Blue Devils, ranked in the top 10 in the state from start to finish, lived up to the hype they carried with them all season as they powered to a 56-50 victory over Niles North.

Now, Warren, which never trailed Niles North and built a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, is state-bound for just the second time in school history. In 1999, the Blue Devils finished as the Class AA runner-up to St. Joseph.

Now 30-3 on the season, Warren will face Normal Community in the 8:15 p.m. Class 4A semifinal on Friday night at Carver Arena inside the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria.

“Oh my gosh, the whole team is so happy right now. I'm so excited. You dream about this,” said Warren senior Jeremiah Jackson, who led three Blue Devils in double-figures with 12 points. JoVaughn Gaines finished with 11 points and Jameris Smith chipped in with 10 points.

“Those guys who came back and gave us advice before the game, they motivated us,” Jackson continued. “They told us that this could be it, that this could be our last game if we didn't play as hard as we could. They told us to play hard and to play for each other.”

Warren played hard all right, and so did Niles North.

Every possession was a battle, every rebound was a fight in a game that was even more physical than the 51 combined free throw attempts between the teams would indicate.

“Both teams really played hard,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “There were some incredible battles for balls, and strong, tough play inside.

“Our kids met the challenge and got the job done.”

The Blue Devils were especially workmanlike on the boards. Rebounding has been a strength all season and Warren's 36-17 advantage in that department was again key.

So was Warren's ability to hit free throws down the stretch.

All but four of Warren's 20 fourth-quarter points came on free throws. The Blue Devils were 16-of-22 from the line over the final eight minutes.

Then again, the two field goals that they got in the period were also crucial.

Niles North was rallying, but Gaines scored back-to-back buckets, one on a big steal and layup, to stretch a 5-point Warren lead back to 9 points (47-38) with 3:49 left.

“That turnover and steal, man, that was a big play,” said Niles North coach Glenn Olson, whose teams wraps up its best season in school history with a 24-7 record. “That was the turning point.”

Well, kind of. Niles North did cut its deficit back down to four points (47-43) with 3:13 left when star guard Abdel Nader scored 5 quick points, including a 3-pointer at the top of the key.

Nader scored a game-high 27 points for the Vikings.

But Warren, which got clutch ball-handling from Smith, who handled the Vikings' highly-touted pressure well, just kept hitting free throws.

Smith was 6-for-8 from the line in the fourth quarter. Darius Paul, who finished with 9 points, was 4-of-6 from the free throw line in the fourth, as was Jackson.

“This means so much,” said Smith, who happens to be Ceola Clark's cousin. “A lot of us have had family play for Warren. We've watched a lot of games over the years and we have the opportunity to do something that they were never able to do.

“We're going to win (state) for all those guys.”