Warren sprints to victory
Unlike most games that involve the Warren boys basketball team, Friday’s North Suburban Conference Lake Division tilt against Mundelein had the defensive feel of an NBA all-star game.
Known for their defensive prowess and controlled offensive approach, the normally methodical Blue Devils got sucked into the kind of up-and-down frenetic pace that Mundelein prefers.
And they fit in just fine, thank you very much.
Warren showed its versatility in a high-octane 87-78 victory over visiting Mundelein, proving that when its suffocating defense isn’t running on all cylinders that its offense can put up more than enough points to compensate.
Division I signees Darius Paul and Nathan Boothe practically made up for the Blue Devils’ unusually generous defense themselves.
Paul, a 6-foot- 8 forward who is going to Western Michigan, poured in a career-high 30 points while Boothe, a 6-foot-9 forward who is going to Toledo, added 23 points. They were among four players (senior guards JoVaughn Gaines and Jameris Smith added 14 and 12 points, respectively) to reach double-figures for the Blue Devils, who run their record to 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the Lake Division.
“They (Mundelein) were running on us, but we were running on them,” said Paul, who was particularly offensive-minded. He drained 5 three-pointers, hit 12-of-20 shots overall and slammed home 3 big dunks. “We weren’t really stopping their transition game so we knew we had to score more points than them and that it would be a high-scoring game.
“We’re OK with that. I like it better than what we usually do. It’s fun.”
Paul was thoroughly enjoying himself early on. He hit five of his six first-quarter shots, including 3 three-pointers and 2 dunks. As the buzzer at the end of the period sounded, he knocked down a three-pointer while falling into the Mundelein bench.
“He’s so long and we were draping guys all over him, but he hit some big threes…and he kept hitting them,” said Mundelein junior guard Robert Knar, who had a big night of his own, dropping in a team-high 27 points, including 5 three-pointers. “He definitely used his length to his advantage and tonight he just kind of went off on us. He burned us.”
Mundelein (19-5, 6-2) got burned repeatedly by the Blue Devils, starting midway through the third quarter and continuing well into the fourth quarter.
Despite Paul’s 20-point first half, the game was nip-and-tuck to that point, with Warren clinging to a 42-41 halftime lead. But the Blue Devils finished the third quarter with an 8-0 run to take an 11-point advantage (64-53) into the fourth quarter.
A spurt early in the fourth quarter extended Warren’s lead to as many as 17 points.
“We had some stretches in that third and fourth quarter in which we lost our energy and our focus,” said Mundelein coach Dick Knar, who last tasted victory against Warren four years ago. “I told the guys that’s what I was disappointed in. Because when you play a team like that without energy or aggression, you’re in trouble.”
The Mustangs, who also got 16 points from junior forward Sean O’Brien and 12 points from sophomore guard Nate Williams, did their best to get out of that jam by hitting some clutch 3-pointers down the stretch. In fact, a Knar 3-pointer cut Mundelein’s deficit to just 8 points. But by then, there was less than 40 seconds remaining in the game.
Not that Warren coach Chuck Ramsey took any solace in that. With the way the Blue Devils normally play defense, they don’t sweat out many games in which they’re up by 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“It was a very good offensive game for both teams,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “But defensively…we didn’t do a very good job. I’ll give credit to the offenses. Both teams were making shots. But we made a lot of defensive mistakes and we have a lot of work to do on defense.”