Warren finishes MLK Classic with 2 more wins
At the Martin Luther King Classic in Galesburg, Warren won four of its five games, which includes an off-site victory over Maine South in December.
On Monday, the Blue Devils, who are now 16-3 on the season, concluded their run through the tournament with back-to-back wins over Sterling and Marian Catholic.
In defeating Sterling 61-53, Warren got 26 points out of Darius Paul as well as 19 points out of Nathan Boothe.
The Blue Devils overcame a lethargic first half, which netted them a 2-point deficit at halftime, by outscoring Sterling 22-12 in the third quarter. Paul and Boothe were the focal points of the Warren offense. They scored 14 and 6 points respectively in the third quarter.
Against Marian Catholic, Warren got off to a much better start and wound up cruising to a 65-28 victory.
“We played a lot better in that game,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “We were more focused, and by halftime we were up 33-14.”
Jeremiah Jackson led the Blue Devils with 12 points, including a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line. Brandon Ferguson added 11 points.
On Saturday, Warren split its two games.
In a 67-42 victory over East Moline, the Blue Devils placed four players in double-figures, led by Boothe (13 points). Jackson and JoVaughn Gaines each scored 11 points and Tanner Erbach added 10 points.
“East Moline is a really good team,” Ramsey said. “To beat them by 25 points after a four-hour bus ride and having battled Stevenson the night before, that was a pretty good game for us. Actually, I thought we played an excellent game.”
Warren's only blemish in the tournament came in a 54-53 defeat to Galesburg on Saturday.
The Blue Devils were up 41-38 at the end of the third quarter but Galesburg had a big fourth quarter and was sitting on a 5-point lead with a minute left in the game. Warren cut its deficit to 1-point and had two shots to win the game in the final seconds but just couldn't connect.
Boothe scored 23 points for Warren while Gaines added 9 points.
“The main objective of this trip was for us to get some more games on our schedule,” said Ramsey, who took his players to the Bradley-Missouri State men's basketball game in Peoria on Sunday. Peoria is about 45 minutes from Galesburg. “This was a very worthwhile experience and now we've got to build on the good things we did there.”
Antioch looks at bright side: Antioch didn't get a win during its four-game run through the Martin Luther King Tournament in Hononegah, but it did get some confidence.
“We were the smallest school in the tournament,” Antioch coach Mike Skinner said. “All the other schools were (Class) 4A schools. And these were good teams, teams that are either ranked or that could be ranked.
“We had some really good moments and even though we went 0-4, our kids felt like we could take the positives from each game and really build on them for when we come back and play our division games. I mean, we were playing teams that are better than North Chicago and Vernon Hills. Our kids were saying that if we play in our division games the way we did in this tournament, we should win some of those (division) games.”
On Monday, Antioch lost to Zion-Benton (76-34) and Normal West (76-68). Against Normal West, Sam Green led the Sequoits with 20 points while William Waschow had 15 points.
“We played really well in that game,” Skinner said. “It was the best game we played in the tournament. And Normal West upset Neuqua Valley, which is ranked like sixth or seventh in the state. We need to build on that.”
And Skinner hopes the Sequoits do so in the same exact manner they did last year.
“We came out of this tournament last year and won three straight games,” Skinner said. “That's why we play in this tournament against all these really good teams. It gets us ready for the rest of our season.”
On Saturday, Antioch dropped games to eventual tournament champion Hononegah (55-38) and Neuqua Valley (84-48). Against Hononegah, Mike Barakat led the Sequoits with 15 points.
Antioch is now 3-14 on the season.