Warren turns back momentum, Mundelein
If it was finally going to happen for Mundelein’s basketball boys, if they were finally going to celebrate a sectional title, the opportunity arrived late in the third quarter.
Momentum had swung. The Mustangs’ two stars — the sweet shooter and the ferocious dunker — had just taken matters into their own trusty hands.
Ryan Sawvell caught Charlie Gandolfi’s long pass in full stride and, with no defender in sight, dunked hard, seemingly taking out some frustration on a Barrington rim.
Then fearless Robert Knar spun in the lane among Warren’s giants, scooped in a layup and drew a foul. When the kid sank the free throw, Mundelein was within 39-35 with 1:05 left in the third quarter of Friday night’s Class 4A Barrington sectional final.
In pursuit of their first sectional championship in school history, the Mustangs finally had the momentum back that they had lost early in the second quarter, when Warren burned off 10 straight points to turn a 12-6 deficit into a four-point lead.
“They know what we do, and they had a chip on their shoulder,” said Warren forward Darius Paul, who had 17 points and 17 rebounds. “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row.”
But Warren did, breaking Mundelein’s hearts 63-55, even if its third game this season against the Mustangs was a lot closer than the first two. The Blue Devils topped the Mustangs 79-41 and 74-54 during North Suburban Lake play.
“Hey, it’s tough to beat a good team once,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “This is a good team, Mundelein. They have those two great players, and they all play really hard. And we weren’t at our best tonight. We missed a bunch of shots to start the game. We were tight.”
Mundelein didn’t exactly look relaxed either.
Neither team shot free throws well. Mundelein was 9 of 17 from the stripe, while Warren went 15 of 28. Even Sawvell, a good free-throw shooter, struggled, missing 5 of his 10 foul shots. Knar missed one too (4 attempts).
The Mustangs’ two stars wowed nonetheless. Knar poured in a game-high 30 points — 3 shy of the sophomore’s season high set against Elk Grove at Jacobs — while Sawvell posted 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Knar canned 12 of 26 shots (three 3s). When he wasn’t using his quick, effortless release to shoot over Brandon Ferguson (a darn good defender), he was boldly venturing into the paint to put up a shot. Getting his shot swatted doesn’t faze him.
That’s the competitor in him.
“He’s a tremendous scorer,” Ramsey said. “He can shoot. He can drive.”
The 6-foot-8 Sawvell, who had his hands full in the post with 6-5 Jeremiah Jackson (8 points), the 6-6 Paul and 6-8 Nathan Boothe (10 points, 11 rebounds), was 5-of-11 shooting.
The rest of Mundelein’s team was 4 of 17 from the floor, and that included an uncontested, made layup just before the final buzzer.
No Mustang celebrated.
They had come up short, again.