Duncan gets 'Little' payback as Devils win
David Duncan did all he could do.
And Marc Little, even with Duncan draped all over him, still drained a 3-pointer to send Friday night's first game at Waukegan's East Campus gym between Bartlett and Warren to overtime.
"It was a good shot," Little, who's been gigantic in Bartlett's first two games, said with a wide smile.
In overtime, Duncan did all he could do. And, this time, it was enough.
Duncan scored 9 of his 21 points in OT, as Warren pulled out an 86-82 win. Brandon Paul also scored 21 points for the Blue Devils (2-0). Little led Bartlett (0-2) with 33 points - two nights after scoring 38 against Waukegan.
"When that guy hit the 3 in my face, it pumped me up really bad," Duncan said of Little's 3 that sent the game to overtime tied 74-74. "I wanted to come back and just hit one right back at them."
Duncan picked a great time to do that. Little's 3 had put the Hawks up 80-77 with 1:28 left, but Duncan answered immediately with a 3-pointer of his own.
It was particularly clutch since Warren was without four starters.
Jake Anderson (7 points, 6 rebounds) suffered a cut on his forehead in the third quarter and was taken to the hospital, presumably to get stitched up. Paul fouled out in the closing seconds of regulation, and James Poliquin (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Aaron Montgomery (7 points) each picked up his fifth foul in OT.
Warren took the lead for good when Marquise Thomas - who replaced Montgomery - stole the ball, was fouled and sank 2 free throws with 59.5 seconds left.
Duncan hit 4-of-4 free throws in the final 26.1 seconds, and Warren sealed the win when Jeff Kemp grabbed a rebound with 2.2 seconds to go and was fouled.
Shahron Thomas added 11 points coming off the bench for Warren.
"The players who came in stepped up," Duncan said. "Marquise came in and got a clutch steal and knocked his free throws down, and then we just built off it."
Duncan played big down the stretch in regulation, too, pulling down an offensive rebound, hitting a layup off an inbounds pass from Ryan Maguire and hitting 2 foul shots with 14.2 seconds left to put Warren up 74-69.
"David Duncan's a very capable player," Ramsey said. "Everything with David is decision-making. He has good shooting skills and he can drive to the basket very well."
Little hit a bucket and drew Paul's fifth foul with 8.3 seconds. He missed the free throw, but Aaron Naper got the offensive rebound. After a timeout, Little buried the buzzer-beating 3.
"It blew me away," Duncan said.
"Our coach told us to keep playing hard," said Little, who hit 12 shots, including two 3s. "That's what we did."
Luke Labedzki added 20 points for Bartlett.