Warren keeps its cool

Having a Division I recruit in the stable can make a good team great.

So can showing poise in sticky situations.

No wonder the Warren boys basketball team has just one loss on the season. The Blue Devils not only have Illinois-bound Brandon Paul on their side, they can also be some pretty cool customers under pressure.

Warren seemed destined to cruise to yet another big victory Saturday night against visiting Conant. The Blue Devils worked a double-digit lead for most of the second and third quarters.

Then, practically out of nowhere, Conant cut the deficit to four points with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter.

And that's when Warren went from good to great.

The Blue Devils didn't freak out, didn't panic, didn't get timid or tentative. Instead, they closed out the game on an 18-3 run to get the big victory - 62-43 - that they were on pace for originally.

With the nonconference triumph, Warren improves to 13-1 on the season. Conant, which held Paul to 13 points, drops to 10-5.

"We stay calm and keep our cool pretty well," said Warren senior guard David Duncan, who got the big fourth-quarter run started with a huge three-pointer out of a timeout. The Blue Devils called for time when Conant scored a layup off of a turnover to cut its deficit to 44-40 with 6:11 to play.

"We all pull together really well to work out whatever's going wrong," Duncan said. "We just trust each other. That's the big thing. None of us have to do it by ourselves. And everyone steps up when they need to."

That's what senior guard Ryan Maguire did.

Just as the Blue Devils were starting that fourth quarter run, center James Poliquin was tagged with his fourth foul and had to go to the bench, which was worrisome. Poliquin was having a big night and had scored all of his team-high 16 points by then.

But Maguire made sure there was no letdown.

"Ryan came in and did a great job," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "We play a lot of seniors (like Maguire) and tonight they played like seniors. We made a lot of good decisions and a lot of good plays."

Maguire included. He pulled down several rebounds, got a couple of steals, made a few pretty passes and scored a layup off a turnover.

His play was pivotal during the run.

"Trying to fill the void (left by Poliquin) is pretty big," Maguire said. "I was just trying to make something happen. We got it going (during the 18-3 run). When we're ready to turn it on, we do-foot to the pedal."

Warren revved up its defense during the last five minutes of the game, forcing the Cougars into some mistakes and bad shots. Conant hit just 2-of-13 field goals in the fourth quarter.

"(In cutting Warren's lead to 44-40), we went back to the basics, ran our offense and focused on defense," said Conant guard Cameron Leavitt, who scored a game-high 17 points. "But then we starting missing shots and we just lost all of our momentum and (Warren) just broke out."