Stars shine as Waukegan tips Warren

Waukegan's old East Side gym wasn't quite as packed as it would get for sectional championship games in the good ol' days.

But there was a buzz there on Saturday night that felt a little bit like March.

After all, three of the best players in the state of Illinois - all Division I recruits - were on the floor at the same time in the final game of the Waukegan Thanksgiving Tournament.

Warren senior guard Brandon Paul has signed with Illinois while Waukegan junior guard Jereme Richmond has given a verbal commitment to the Illini.

Meanwhile, Richmond's teammate Colin Nickerson, a senior guard, has verbally committed to Fairfield.

"They have really good players, and we have really good players," Paul said. "It was fun having good players on both sides like that."

All three big-name players had their Division I moments to delight a crowd that was very large by Thanksgiving tournament standards.

But in the end, it was good old-fashioned hard-nosed team defense that made the biggest impact on the game.

Waukegan played it from start to finish, forcing Warren into an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers en route to a 73-60 victory.

With the win, Waukegan, which saw a 13-point third-quarter lead shrink to five points before kicking it back up to as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, stays unbeaten at 3-0. Warren drops to 2-1.

"It was a fun game to play in and a fun atmosphere," said Richmond, who rolled up a game-high 23 points that included a monster dunk off of a Warren turnover in the first quarter. "I think we gave the fans a show.

"The key for us was trust. We trusted each other and relied on each other and we were able to play good defense by doing that."

Richmond says that defense has been stressed ever since new coach Tim Bowen hopped aboard. Bowen used to be the head coach at Grayslake Central and is now an assistant with the Bulldogs.

Ironically, Bowen also used to coach at Warren, which has a long-standing reputation for defensive excellence.

"Coach Bowen came in and now we stress defense, defense, defense," Richmond said. "He told us that when he was at Warren they really shut people down with the defensive schemes he learned there. So when he brought that to us, we were really excited. And it's really working for us."

The Bulldogs scored five times off of turnovers while Warren was able to do that only once.

And, thanks in part to Waukegan's quick-rotating defense, Warren also didn't shoot the ball very well. The Blue Devils finished with a 41 percent clip.

"They're just quicker than we are. They put a lot of defensive pressure on you and sometimes we rushed and hurried and either turned it over or didn't make good passes to set our guys up for shots," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "Waukegan played well. They've got a lot of talent and they're playing like a team that has something to prove. They're a real tiger right now. But we also hurt ourselves. We have to be more sure with the ball."

It also would have helped Warren's cause if sharp-shooting guard David Duncan had been on the floor more. He spent much of the game on the bench in foul trouble.

Yet, amazingly, he still finished with a team-high 19 points on 5 three-pointers.

"And I bet he didn't even play 19 minutes," Ramsey said. "Having him out for so long really hurt us."

Warren also got 18 points from Paul, who tweaked an already sore left ankle, 10 points from Shahron Thomas and 9 points from Jake Anderson. Anderson was hustling and crashing the boards despite taking a hit to the forehead the night before that required nine stitches.

Besides Richmond, three other players scored in double-figures for Waukegan.

Mike Springs had 15 points, while Steve Conner and Nickerson had 11 and 10 points respectively.

"I think we were tested tonight," Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw said. "But a big thing for us is that we have interchangeable parts and that showed in this game. We have a lot of guys who can do everything well."