Boothe sparks Warren

At 6-foot-6, Nathan Boothe isn't little.

But, around the halls at Warren High School, that's one of the words people often use to describe him.

"Most people refer to me as 'Sarah's little brother,' " Boothe said.

That would be Sarah Boothe, who starred for the Warren girls basketball team and then was named Illinois' Ms. Basketball as a senior in 2008.

She is now playing basketball for nationally ranked Stanford.

Boothe, the brother, has big shoes to fill.

But a couple more games like he had on Saturday night and maybe people will refer to him by his own name.

Boothe, who is just a sophomore, came off the bench and gave Warren just the spark it needed to surge past Mundelein, one of the mostly highly regarded teams in the North Suburban Conference this season.

Boothe banged his way inside for 12 points and 7 rebounds in leading the Blue Devils to a 65-53 Lake Division victory. Warren, which is loaded with promising, but young and inexperienced talent like Boothe, improves to 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in Lake play.

Mundelein, meanwhile, drops to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the Lake.

"Boothe is a talented kid," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "He has good hands and he can shoot the ball. And he did it against a tall kid who can bother some shots."

Boothe showed no hesitation in going up against Mundelein's 6-foot-8 junior forward Ryan Sawvell.

"This and the Waukegan game have been my best games this season," said Boothe, who scored 8 points a couple weeks ago against the Bulldogs. "Coach wanted us to get the ball inside tonight to me and Shahron (Thomas). We were a little bit bigger than (Mundelein)."

Warren, down 30-28 at halftime, made pounding the ball inside its focus after the break.

Boothe scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half while the 6-foot-3 Thomas scored 9 of his team-high 15 points.

The Blue Devils, up 45-42 at the start of the fourth quarter, began to pull away when Boothe and Thomas scored eight straight points in the paint late in the game.

That gave Warren a 58-47 lead with about two minutes remaining.

"The game turned when we were able to get the ball inside and get easy baskets and free throws," said Ramsey, who also got double-figures from guards Craig Burton (12 points) and Marquise Thomas (10 points). "And then we played well with the lead.

"This (victory) means a lot to us. We needed a win no matter who we were playing. The fact that it was one of the favorites in our division and one of the better teams in the county just makes it even better."

Mundelein, meanwhile, is suffering through a bit of a mini-slump, having lost back-to-back games.

Normally known for their long-range shooting prowess, the Mustangs hit just 1 three-pointer the entire night. Add in the fact that they rolled up 18 turnovers and couldn't stop Warren inside and they had their hands full.

"We started the game by defending well," said Mundelein guard Ben Brust, who finished with a game-high 20 points. The Mustangs also got 19 points from Sawvell and 10 points from Robert Knar.

"We just have to learn how to defend well as a team for 32 minutes and not have any letdowns," Brust said. "They were bigger than us but we needed to fight more to get around them."

"Come Monday, we're going to practice hard, harder than ever, because it doesn't get any easier."