Stellar play from Smith pleases this basketball family

They don't come much bigger than Ceola Clark when it comes to Warren basketball greats.

They don't come much smaller than Jameris Smith when it comes to Warren's 2010-11 basketball team.

But during Tuesday night's Class 4A Waukegan supersectional between Warren and Niles North, with Clark sitting in a front-row seat watching his high school alma mater, Smith was, well, great.

His cousin happens to be Clark.

"We hooked him up with the tickets," Smith joked. "I just wanted to make him proud. I've looked up to him my whole life."

At 5 feet 9, Smith looks up to a lot of his teammates. Warren's starting five goes 6-8 (Nathan Boothe), 6-6 (Darius Paul), 6-5 (Jeremiah Jackson), 6-3 (JoVaughn Gaines) and 6-2 (Brandon Ferguson).

But with pesky Niles North refusing to go away and pestering the much-larger Blue Devils all night, coach Chuck Ramsey gave significant minutes to his backup point guard.

And Smith delivered.

"Jameris was tremendous," Ramsey said. "Niles North puts extreme pressure on the point guard a lot of contact. They use a lot of different kids, and they're on you for 32 minutes. I thought he did a great job against it. He did a great job at both ends. Jameris is a very good athlete, and he made some big plays for us tonight."

You'll get no argument from Clark, who's currently a junior for Western Illinois' basketball team. He led Warren to a supersectional berth as a senior in 2007, but the Blue Devils fell to North Suburban Conference rival Stevenson.

He flashed a large smile when talking about his cousin's play in Warren's 56-50 win over Niles North.

"It was amazing," Clark said. "He showed he's one of the best point guards in the area and helped Warren get the victory."

He couldn't have been prouder of his kid cousin.

"He's a part of me," Clark said. "It's my little cousin. He's playing great out there. He's only a junior, and he's going downstate. I'm so happy for him."

Smith finished with 10 points, sinking 6 of 8 free throws in the final quarter.

"It was real physical out there," Smith said. "Coach told me to stay strong and be aggressive. I'm an aggressive player anyway. That's my style of play."

Smith also had 6 rebounds and used his 35-inch vertical jump to swat a shot by the Vikings' Cassius Bell out of bounds late in the fourth quarter.

Warren's fans erupted.

"Ceola is the patient player," Smith said. "I'm the athletic, fast player."

He'll get only a proud smile from his big cousin.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com