Steward steps up as Bees sting Devils

Aaron Montgomery says he and Ronald Steward have been playing basketball with or against each other since the fifth grade.

"Actually," Steward said, "it was fourth grade."

As "on" as Steward was in the second half Tuesday night, who's to argue with the Zion-Benton senior?

Montgomery, a Warren senior, acknowledged that Steward was at his best after halftime in leading host Zion-Benton to a 69-58 win over the Blue Devils in Zion.

Steward scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, as Z-B (15-6, 5-3) dropped Warren (15-3, 6-2) a game back in the loss column of first-place Lake Forest in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division. Lake Forest was a 51-40 winner of Round Lake in an NSC crossover.

"He's always been tough," Montgomery said of Steward. "I knew he was going to be tough."

Steward's first half was rough. He was 0 of 3 from the floor, including two misses from outside the arc. But with Lenzelle Smith scoring all 14 of his points in the first half, Zion-Benton led 32-26 at the break. Warren answered a thunderous dunk by Paul Williams with a 3-pointer by David Duncan to pull even at 37-37 with 2:05 left in the third, but then Steward took over.

He hit a pair of left-wing 3s and ended the third by scoring on a drive with six seconds left to put the hosts up 47-45.

"I don't feel like we ever played well tonight," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "But even with that said, at the end of three quarters we were right there."

A free throw by Montgomery had Warren within 50-46 with 6:35 left, but the Blue Devils never got any closer.

Steward scored 13 points in the fourth, making all 3 of his shots from the field (one 3) and going 6 of 8 from the foul line.

"Steward kind of ran the fourth quarter," Ramsey said.

After the 5-foot-10 point guard grabbed a defensive rebound in traffic, after his 3 seconds earlier put the Zee-Bees up nine, the home fans gave their four-year varsity starter a standing ovation.

"Lenzelle, Quintrell (Love), Owen (Worthington) and Paul (Williams) had a real good first half, and I missed some shots," said Steward, who came in averaging 11 points per game. "I think (Warren) was trying to deny the wings more, and then they were fronting the post. It was open up a little for me to drive, and as I was driving, I saw that they weren't stepping up. I think that was due to me missing the shots in the first half. So I tried to make them pay."

Montgomery, who guarded Steward most of the night, wasn't surprised.

"He's real explosive," Montgomery said. "When he needs to score, he'll score. He can take over at any point in the game."

Illinois-bound Brandon Paul had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals for Warren, but he shot just 4 of 21 from the floor. When he wasn't settling for jumpers, he was missing putback attempts.

"He missed all kinds of shots," Ramsey said.

Jake Anderson led Warren in scoring with 16 points. James Poliquin (15) and Duncan (11) also finished in double figures.

The Blue Devils were coming off an overtime loss to Lake Forest. That, after they had won 13 in a row.

"We've hit a little wall here," Ramsey said. "What we got to do is get back on the practice floor, get basic and get back to playing sound basketball. We didn't play sound basketball tonight."