Paul, Warren handle Fremd

Warren started the holiday season on a high note with a decisive victory over Fremd in the opening game of Waukegan's boys basketball tournament on Wednesday.

Fremd came out with the hot hand and took an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

But Illinois-bound guard Brandon Paul scored 5 easy baskets to start the second quarter and helped Warren earn a 28-20 half-time lead, and the Blue Devils never looked back.

Paul finished with a game-high 29 points, including three 3-point shots, and tied with two other teammates for a team-best 6 rebounds.

"I just wanted to play hard and set the tone," said Paul. "We came out a little bit slow, but we picked it up. We wanted to come out hard, but we picked it up once the game progressed."

Paul knows in order for the Blue Devils to win, the team needs to come together.

"We've been playing together as a team for a long time," Paul said. "They know that I can score with my scoring ability and I have faith in them also so we just try to get everybody open.

"I think we emphasize that we are a team and we're just not one player. And if we play as a team, then we can get things done."

Jake Anderson scored 17 points, including 7 of 9 free throws, and also pulled down 6 rebounds. Marquis Thomas also had 6 rebounds.

Warren outshot Fremd 50 to 42 percent, and Warren dominated the boards 26-21.

"Having other kids score and everybody playing defense is the simple but challenging thing that we have to do in order to be a good team," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "I will take the scoring from whoever can do it, but I think Jake Anderson is very capable as well as some other kids who didn't score a lot tonight."

Ramsey knows that while Paul is Warren's most accomplished player, he'll need contributions from everyone for the team to be successful.

"Brandon is a great player and we have to find him," Ramsey said. "We have to strike a balance between making sure that we use Brandon's skills, but the other guys are playing off that."

Christopher Klimek led Fremd with 13 points and Daniel Bruno added 10.

"I thought we did a real nice job in the first quarter and we were real solid," Vikings coach Bob Widlowski said. "But then Brandon Paul got a couple of easy baskets and that kind of let them get going.

"I thought we had a couple of our guys do some nice things today," Widlowski said."We did have a real nice second half and I felt that we rebounded well."