Warren overpowers Hoffman

On Saturday night at Warren, a team looking to finally rev up all its engines ran into a team that may have been subconsciously powering down.

No surprise which one came out on the winning end.

Warren, which has been battling illness after illness and injury after injury all season long, was at near full strength for one of the first times this season and champing at the bit to strut its stuff. Standing in the way was a Hoffman Estates team that endured a physically and mentally taxing, last-second loss in its conference divisional championship game the night before.

Warren almost made it look easy, pouncing on the worn-out Hawks early and often en route to a 64-39 nonconference victory.

The victory moves the Blue Devils, who limited Hoffman Estates to 12 first-half points and single-digit point totals in each of the first three quarters, to 19-5 overall.

Hoffman drops to 18-8.

"Hoffman Estates is an excellent team, with excellent coaching. We caught them at the right time," said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey, who was still without starter Jake Anderson (illness), but had everyone else available. "Losing their division championship game last night and then having to come all the way up here to play us-that's a worst case scenario for them. We know that and we know that they're much better than what they showed. They're a very sound team.

"But, that being said, we played well. That's what we take from this game."

Scoring was slow-going for both teams early on, with only 16 points scored in the first quarter combined.

But the Blue Devils picked up the pace in the second quarter, both offensively and defensively.

Warren outscored Hoffman 19-6 in the period to take a comfy 29-12 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Blue Devils did a lot of damage in the paint over that stretch as senior forward James Poliquin and junior forward Shahron Thomas scored 6 and 5 points respectively.

"We played like a team," said Thomas, who had been sick for awhile himself. He finished with 7 points on the night. "We've had everyone sick and injured and everyone is just finally pulling together and playing strong."

The Blue Devils pulled away even more, thanks to a big third quarter by senior guard David Duncan, who was playing in his third game after returning from a layoff brought on by a severe case of the flu.

He scored 8 points, including two 3-pointers, and helped Warren limit Hoffman to only 8 third-quarter points. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils boasted a 49-21 advantage.

"We had good team defense, we were helping each other the whole game," Duncan said. "We just wanted to keep putting the pressure on them so they couldn't come back."

The Hawks, who shot 16 percent in the first half, finally got more shots to fall in the fourth quarter. But by then it was way too late.

"Tonight was more of an indication of where we were as a group of five guys on the floor, not really an indication of where we are as a team," Hoffman coach Bill Wandro said. "We had that game last night but you can't use that as an excuse because that stuff happens and you've got to get over it. This just gives us something to work on."

Hoffman got a team-high 9 points from Luke Mead, who had to deal with early foul trouble. Kemill Long chipped in 7 points for the Hawks.

Warren got a game-high 10 points apiece out of Poliquin and Illinois-bound guard Brandon Paul, who tweaked an already tender ankle in the third quarter.

He left the game and did not return, but likely more because the Blue Devils didn't need him.