Warren shakes up lineup in win at LZ

JoVaughn Gaines and his old “Pine Squad” buddy Darius Paul started Warren's North Suburban Lake Division opener against Lake Zurich in an old familiar place Friday night.

On chairs.

“I'm used to coming off the bench,” said Paul, the 6-foot-8 Western Michigan recruit. “My childhood, I used to sit on the bench for a while. So it's just another day.”

“We both (came off the bench), back in the day,” Gaines said. “Coach never started us, but we'd always put up like 15 points a game.”

They combined for 20 against Lake Zurich.

Paul posted team bests of 14 points, including a pair of dunks, and 8 rebounds, and 6-4 guard Gaines contributed 6 points and 5 boards, as Warren stayed undefeated with a 53-38 win in Gurnee.

Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher, whose Bears (2-3, 0-1) got a game-high 22 points and 7 rebounds from Mirko Grcic, knew before tipoff that Warren would not be starting its usual five.

“Mirko and Darius are buddies,” Pitcher said. “(Grcic) told us in walk-throughs. He said, ‘Darius texted me. He's not starting.' I said we'll believe it when we see it. But we had (Mitch) Munda and (Jon) Geske (who started instead) on the scouting report. We know that's their seven guys.”

With Paul and Gaines sitting, Lake Zurich bolted to an early lead. Grcic's 3-pointer gave him 9 points and the Bears a 9-8 edge with 3:41 to go in the first quarter.

At the 3:19 mark, Paul and Gaines entered the game together.

Just like old times.

“I wasn't that talented,” Paul said of his younger days.

“I wasn't good,” Gaines said. “But I practiced every day.

“I remember back when we were little, me and all my friends sat on the bench, so we made a group called the ‘Pine Squad.' We all just practiced every day, and we all got better.”

Thirty seconds after they got in the game, Gaines fed Paul for a reverse layup, starting an 11-0 run that included Gaines' pull-up 14-footer and had Warren (4-0, 1-0) up 19-9 after one quarter.

“They came in and they were ready to play. They both did a good job,” said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey, explaining that Gaines and Paul did not start because of “reasons within the team.”

Despite being undersized and getting outrebounded 33-17, Lake Zurich was within 30-25 after Grcic banked in a runner with 2:30 left in the third quarter.

“We couldn't consistently guard Grcic,” Ramsey said. “He's a very skilled player.”

Warren used another run, this one 8-0, to close the third and led 38-25.

Geske, whose putback at the halftime buzzer was waved off because it came a second too late, this time beat the buzzer with an offensive-rebound basket.

Jameris Smith (10 points) hit 5 of 7 free throws in the fourth for Warren, which hosts New Trier tonight.

“For us to be the best team we can be, we need to be consistent every day, and that especially includes practice,” Ramsey said. “As a group, we need to practice better.”

Pitcher loved his team's effort, noting Warren's runs at the ends of the first and third quarters were the difference.

“I thought we really battled,” Pitcher said. “I told the guys in the locker room it's probably the most proud I've been of a team after a loss. ... We gave them a lot of offensive rebounds (17), but we got a lot of defensive rebounds that I thought we had no business getting.”