Another Paul standing tall for Warren

Perhaps if Darius Paul was going up against the likes of Ohio State, he would have staged a full-fledged "Brandon Paul" on Saturday.

In a crossover game against Lakes, the Warren senior forward was trying his best to emulate big brother Brandon, who wowed the college basketball world on Tuesday with a 43-point, 8 three-pointer barrage against Ohio State that came on just 15 shots.

Like Brandon, Darius sunk three-pointers with ease. Three of them, to be exact. And like Brandon, who also came up with four monster blocks, Darius showed off his athleticism, throwing down 2 thunderous dunks.

But the Blue Devils didn't need Darius quite as much in their 77-47 trouncing of visiting Lakes as Illinois needed Brandon it its 5-point upset of the No. 5 Buckeyes.

So Darius's chance to go full-out "Brandon Paul" on Lakes was cut off at the knees when the game got ridiculously out of hand. He watched from the bench as the reserves inherited a late third-quarter lead that had reached as many as 41 points. He then stayed put for the fourth quarter as the reserves were asked to close out the game.

Despite the limited minutes, Darius finished with a game-high 16 points on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting performance that would have made Big Brother proud.

It all helped Warren improve to 12-2 on the season. Meanwhile, Lakes, which was playing without starters Direll Clark and Jay-Jay Elvir as well as key reserve Andrew Spender due to athletic code violations, drops to 11-7.

"Brandon's game was really good (against Ohio State). His coaches were telling him that he needed to 'go off' and he did," Darius said of his big brother. "I guess I've kind of had a few games like that in like the fall leagues, when it feels like you just can't miss.

"(Tonight) it felt good. It's our home court, we practice here every day. It's pretty easy to make shots on it."

Darius hit all four of his field goal attempts in the first quarter, including both attempts from the three-point arc, as Warren took a commanding 25-11 lead into the second quarter.

By halftime, that cushion had expanded to 25 points (45-20). And the third quarter got no better for the Eagles as Warren turned up the defensive intensity and outscored them 17-6.

"We got off to a good start," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "And we played well defensively. We also shot the ball decent tonight and the kids played well together. Darius is in a nice groove. He's got a lot of things he can do on the basketball court. He's a talented kid."

Darius wasn't the only Blue Devil to flaunt his talents.

Senior center Nathan Boothe chipped in with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting while senior forwards Mitch Munda and Jon Geske scored 8 and 7 points respectively. Meanwhile, junior guard Aarias Austin came off the bench and dished out 10 assists while Munda had 5. Munda and reserve forward Dre'von Hill pulled down a team-high 6 rebounds each.

"That's a darn good team," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said of Warren. "They've got very sound players who were able to take advantage of any little thing we did that wasn't quite right.

"We just talked about how this was just one game and that we have to walk out of here with our heads up. It's a long season and there still is a lot to play for, so we can't pack it in by any stretch of the imagination."

Lakes got a team-high 10 points from reserve guard Jacob Brown while guards Tanner Blain and Troy Swindle and forward Justin Bergeron added 8 points apiece.

"Bad things happen, we just have to stay together," Blain said. "Warren is just big and tall and they're just good. Darius is amazing, all those kids are going places. They're doing it right."