Paul, Warren profit in victory over Antioch

Illinois-bound Brandon Paul decided wearing a warm-up t-shirt with the words "business as usual" was the way to go Friday night.

And for Warren boys basketball, yes, it was business as usual as the Blue Devils reached their 10th straight win this season.

But, no, it wasn't a typical way for the Blue Devils as Warren beat host Antioch 66-19 in a North Suburban Conference crossover.

Paul led the way for Warren with 12 points in 12 minutes as the starters played the opening quarter and four minutes into the third quarter.

"We didn't want to take (Antioch) for granted and came out with a lot of energy," said Paul, who shot 5-for-11 from the field. He also had 3 rebounds, a couple of steals and 2 blocks. "I wanted to set the stage a bit. It was a slower pace than usual. We just wanted to come out and play hard."

James Poliquin got the Blue Devils started by scoring 4 of his 8 points with a couple high-percentage post shots, and Paul added a couple of free throws for a 6-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.

Paul picked the pace up with a two-handed dunk at the 3:15 mark and Warren scored 16 straight points before Antioch's DeVonte Miller scored the Sequoits' first basket with 1:34 left. Warren led 22-2 after the opening quarter.

"I didn't think that could happen," said Antioch coach Michael Skinner. "I was thinking if (Warren) was going to beat us, let's make it really hard for them. We worked on zone in practice. We knew they've got good shooters, but we wanted to pack it in.

"I tried to prepare the team for Paul. He's very athletic. That stuff is part of the game, the dunk, when you're at that level. He dunked the ball. It's like our guys wereall scared and then they threw the ball away. It was ugly and I didn't think it would be like that."

Warren extended its lead to 35-4 by the break and used the rest of its bench. Marquise Thomas chipped in 9 points and Matt Dickinson added 7.

"Starters came out and established a good tone early," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "We got a chance to play a lot of guys and they got a lot of minutes.

"It was a good thing getting everybody a chance to play. We haven't had many one-sided games this year. Most of our games are competitive and very close. But it's hard to establish continuity when you're not playing extended minutes."

Blue Devils next will host Conant at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. Eric Smith and Alec Paramski each led the Sequoits with 5 points.