Warren gets past Zee-Bees

Warren's North Suburban Conference boys basketball game against Zion-Benton definitely lived up to its billing Wednesday night.

The host Blue Devils took the Zee-Bees' best punch early in the fourth quarter before they went on an 18-4 run en route to an 89-84 Lake Division victory.

Zion-Benton (5-1, 0-1) took a 61-59 lead when Ohio State-bound senior Lenzelle Smith (game-high 39 points) converted a 4-point play with 7:21 to play.

But that would be the final lead of the game for the 2008 Class 4A runner-up as Warren (3-1, 1-0) would take a 72-65 lead on Illinois-bound senior Brandon Paul's big dunk on a fastbreak assisted by David Duncan with 3:59 to play.

The Zee-Bees could not contain the Blue Devils' momentum as Warren senior Jake Anderson (15 points) hit a 3-pointer from the right corner before Anderson's tip in capped the 18-4 run to tie its biggest lead at 77-65 with 2:50 to play.

Zion-Benton did not go away easily as Smith (seven 3-pointers) hit back-to-back 3-pointers and then another 3-pointer right over Paul to cut the gap to 79-74 with 1:48 remaining.

But Smith was whistled for a technical foul after that 3-pointer for taunting and Duncan (21 points) hit two free throws to give the Blue Devils some breathing room.

After 2 free throws by Anderson made the score 83-74, Smith hit a 3-pointer from 30 feet out before teammate Ronald Steward's trey cut the gap to 83-80 with 45 seconds left. Steward finished with 20 points.

Warren's Aaron Montgomery hit 1-of-2 free throws with 33 seconds to go, but Paul (team-high 27 points) grabbed the rebound before Anderson hit an inside hoop for an 86-80 lead with 18 seconds to go.

James Poliquin was another key senior for Warren with 15 points and 11 rebounds and his free throw with 7.8 seconds left made the score 87-80.

"It was a game of runs and both teams kind of answered each other, but we were able to make a lot of free throws in the end," said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey, whose team hit 55 percent from the field. "We generally kept our poise, but we made some mistakes when we tried to make the spectacular pass."

Quintrell Love added 10 points for the Zee-Bees while Warren's Shahron Thomas chipped in 7 points. Zion-Benton hit 56.5 percent from 3-point range.

"It was really exciting and we just wanted to come out with a lot of intensity," said Paul. "Smith had a great game, he's an amazing player, and he just scored when he needed to."

Warren held a 40-28 lead late in the second quarter, but an 8-1 Zion-Benton run cut the lead to 41-36 at halftime.