Warren's roll continues with win over Stevenson
To understand the evolution of the Warren boys basketball team this season, look no further than Tanner Erbach.
Erbach's personal development essentially mimics that of the Blue Devils as a whole.
Erbach, a junior who entered the season having never started at any level in the basketball program at Warren, was a bench warmer a matter of weeks ago.
"I was at the end of the bench," Erbach said matter-of-factly.
But, just like the Blue Devils, once a lackluster 3-10 on the season, Erbach kept working and working.
Over time, he got better. Over time, so did the Blue Devils, who were young and inexperienced and needed a chance to develop chemistry and confidence.
Now, Erbach is starting for Warren, hitting big shot after big shot. And now, Warren is playing like, well, Warren.
The perennial heavyweights are back at it again.
The Blue Devils, once near the bottom of the North Suburban Lake Division heap, have continued their 180-degree ways, to the point that they are now suddenly Lake Division co-champions.
With Friday's 46-31 victory over visiting Stevenson, which was spearheaded by a team-high 10 points from Erbach, Warren butts its way into a four-way tie with Zion-Benton, Stevenson and Lake Forest.
The Blue Devils were able to crash the party thanks in part to the remarkable nine-game winning streak that they're riding. Now 12-10, Warren hasn't lost since Jan. 15, a 55-53 decision at, ironically enough, Stevenson.
"It never occurred to me (even just a month ago that Warren could be a league co-champion)," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "We were so bad that all you could think about was trying to get better just the next day. The kids have been doing that."
Erbach is the king of improvement.
He slowly but surely showed more and more of a long-range shooting touch in practice. And since the Blue Devils desperately needed an outside game to complement their emerging inside game, Erbach got his chance.
"I was just playing hard and playing defense," Erbach said. "He (Ramsey) was looking for a different combination and we needed more threes."
Erbach, who hit two 3-pointers against Stevenson, saw his minutes begin to increase in Warren's first game against Stevenson. Four games ago, he got his first start and has been in the starting lineup ever since.
"He can shoot the ball, which we badly need. And he's competitive and he plays hard and he's been such a great example," Ramsey said of Erbach. "All the other guys can see that. They see that 'If I work hard and stay with it, (playing time) is possible here.'"
The Blue Devils were working hard on their defense against Stevenson.
They caused all kinds of trouble for Stevenson's ball handlers, who struggled at times just to get the ball over halfcourt.
The Patriots, who drop to 17-7 overall, also rushed their shots on the offensive end, which explains why they scored a total of just 10 first-half points. Also, no one other than Nate Johnson finished with more than 5 points.
Johnson scored a game-high 17 points, but Warren made him work for every last one. He notched 10 of his points on free throws.
"We spent a lot of time trying to prepare for their defense and we thought we felt pretty confident with what we were going to run," Johnson said. "But they just took away everything. Give all the credit to them. They pressured us and we didn't handle it well at all. They took away what we like to do and they did a good job of making us uncomfortable."
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils - all of them - seemed perfectly at home.
Eight different players for Warren scored. After Erbach, Marquise Thomas had 9 points while Shahron Thomas added 7 points and Jeremiah Jackson had 6 points.
"Warren has a lot of kids playing and when a lot of kids play, that means that not everyone gets (a lot of valuable experience early on)," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "But by the end of the season, there's enough games in the books that everyone has that experience. That's why they've gotten better."