Paul, Warren sustain momentum

The way Warren boys basketball coach Chuck Ramsey saw it, his Blue Devils had two strikes against them heading into Tuesday night's North Suburban Lake Division road contest at Libertyville.

"First, we were facing a strong, well-coached Libertyville team," Ramsey said. "Second, we were fighting human nature - we had just won (the Pontiac tournament) and we had to turn around and come play this game."

If the two strikes left a bull's eye on the back of the Devils, one player took and covered it up with a Superman cape.

Illinois-bound senior Brandon Paul scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to help Warren to its ninth straight win, 59-43 over a feisty Libertyville club.

"The second half we opened the game up and played better," said Paul, who closed the contest with a thunderous dunk. "The key for us was to get the ball inside and to not force shots."

Warren (11-1, 4-0) got away from its game plan in the first half, tossing up 14 attempts from behind the arc and hitting just one. Still, Warren held a 19-13 halftime advantage.

With a renewed focus on the interior, the Blue Devils went back to work. They used a 10-3 run to close the third quarter and extend their lead to 34-24.

"In the second half it wasn't so much that we shot the ball better as it was our shot selection, Ramsey said. "But the final score here was not indicative of how close this game really was."

Libertyville (4-8, 1-3) made it close to start the fourth quarter, outscoring the Devils 7-2 to pull within 36-31 with 5:57 to go. But that next basket or next stop eluded the Wildcats most of the night and hurt them down the stretch.

"I thought we executed well at times tonight. We just didn't finish," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "We had so many shots around the basket, like 10 or 11 in the first half, that we just didn't get to fall. Every time we got it close - within a few points - we just couldn't get that stop or score when we had the ball."

Warren senior James Poliquin led the way inside for Warren, as he scored 8 of his 14 points after halftime.

Myles Burton was the lone Wildcat to hit double figures. The 6-foot-5 senior scored 11 of his team-best 17 points in the second half. Jeremy Letchford added 9 for the home team.