Warren stays hot, handles Libertyville
Just when you thought it might be safe to write off the Warren boys basketball team, this past week happens.
The Blue Devils have been suffering through a very unusual season. Perennial heavyweights year in and year out in Lake County, they limped out to a 3-10 start with a rotation that includes five sophomores in the top 10.
Now, it seems as if the Baby Blue Devils are finally catching on. Big time.
In the last week alone, Warren has knocked off three of the top teams in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division. The Blue Devils started with a 2-point victory at Mundelein on Tuesday, went back on the road and took care of Zion-Benton on Friday and then got their most decisive win of the bunch on Saturday night with a thorough 74-53 dismantling of Libertyville in Gurnee.
The win is actually the fourth in a row for the Blue Devils, who started their streak by defeating Grant in a crossover back on Jan. 22.
Warren is now 7-10 overall (5-4 Lake) and suddenly one of the hottest teams in Lake County.
"We're just on a ride right now," said Warren senior guard Craig Burton, who torched Libertyville with a game- and career-high 22 points, including 16 in a first half that saw him drain 3 three-pointers. "We keep getting better. We've been practicing a lot better. We're talking more now, we're even getting along better on and off the court.
"It's not just the younger guys that needed to get going, it's been all of us. But I'm sure it's been harder for the younger guys. It's a big difference between freshman and sophomore basketball and varsity. It just took them some time. It's all good now."
Warren's start against Libertyville was all good, too.
Up 11-6, the Blue Devils kicked it into high gear and finished the first quarter with a 14-0 run to go up 25-6.
Burton had 8 points in the stretch and 6-foot-5 junior forward Jeremiah Jackson did some damage inside with a nice move and a putback.
Jackson and his low post partner-in-crime, 6-foot-3 senior forward Shahron Thomas, each finished with 17 points, taking advantage of their size advantage over Libertyville.
They were a big reason Warren out-rebounded Libertyville 38-21. Thomas had 12 rebounds and Jackson had 9. They each scored 3 baskets on offensive putbacks.
"We were just going to the basket hard. That's all we were doing," Jackson said. "It seemed like Libertyville gave up a little bit."
Who could blame the Wildcats?
The Blue Devils' dominance continued into the second quarter, where they went up by as many as 27 points.
Libertyville senior guard Tyler Schweigert hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer (and, ironically, he did the same thing as the buzzer sounded at the end of the third quarter), but that didn't spark the Wildcats. Libertyville couldn't get any closer than 16 points in the second half.
For the game, the Wildcats (10-9, 5-4 Lake) shot about 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over 21 times against Warren's nagging defense.
"We just came out slow and I'm really not sure why," said Schweigert, who scored a team-high 16 points. The Wildcats also got 14 points from Ryan Barth and 10 points from Hobie Herberger. "They were playing up-tight defense and I guess we were getting a little bothered by that. They forced turnovers and got some hands on balls.
"We weren't boxing out guys and they were getting multiple shots. This is the North Suburban Conference. We need to come out tough every game. This is definitely disappointing."
Meanwhile, Warren coach Chuck Ramsey couldn't be more proud of his team, which seems to be primed for a nice run at the best time of the season.
"We've won four games in eight days and we had only won three games all season before that," Ramsey said. "We've been playing a lot better.
"We're tougher, we're more aggressive, we're playing the game the right way. I'm not sure I want to start talking about peaking just yet. We just need to keep plugging away and just play."