Paul, Boothe power Warren
Packed shoulder to shoulder in the stands, fans at Wednesday’s North Suburban Conference championship basketball game wilted from the heat of an already warm North Chicago gym.
Visiting Warren could have wilted from another kind of heat, an intense heat supplied by the host Warhawks.
But somehow, Warren managed to stay as cool as the other side of the pillow, even when hitting the panic button would have been the most natural response.
Up by as many as 16 points midway through the third quarter, the Blue Devils let down their guard and, in what seemed like an instant, found themselves all tied up with North Chicago about a minute into the fourth quarter.
But Warren did what Warren has been able to do so many times this season: close out. Behind 9 fourth-quarter points from forward Darius Paul, the Blue Devils calmly pulled out an 84-80 victory to earn the program’s 10th North Suburban Conference title.
“We expected them to make a run. But I still knew we were going to win,” a calm, cool and collected Paul said matter-of-factly. “I was just wondering how we were going to do it.”
The Blue Devils, who improve to 22-3 on the season, did it by pounding the ball inside and hitting free throws.
The 6-foot-8 Paul and 6-foot-9 center Nathan Boothe scored all but 6 of Warren’s 21 fourth-quarter points. They fought for position in the paint and made the Warhawks pay for fouling them. Paul and Boothe combined to go 7-for-9 from the line in the fourth.
Paul finished with a game-high 28 points to go along with his game-high 17 rebounds while Boothe pumped in 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
“You’re never comfortable against this (North Chicago) team in this gym…or in any gym,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “They’ve got a lot of fire power and they just keep playing. A lot of credit to North Chicago…they just keep coming at you.
“We got a few stops and we did a pretty good job at the free throw line down the stretch. I’m proud of our team. We played tough. We showed good physical and mental toughness. A lot of times, we could have rolled over. They were making all those runs. But we didn’t. We kept playing. We stayed with it and sustained our effort.”
Not surprisingly, it was Aaron Simpson who spear-headed North Chicago’s most meaningful runs. The sharp-shooting guard whose 31-point scoring average has led the state at times this season scored the Warhawks’ first 6 points of the fourth quarter and provided them with a 65-63 lead with 6:50 remaining.
Simpson scored 18 of his team-high 27 points in the second half, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
“It took heart to get back into the game,” Simpson said. “We came out from halftime with a lot of intensity.”
Simpson got a bit too intense for his own good, though. With North Chicago trailing by just 2 points (78-76) with 1:08 to go, he got tagged with his fifth foul.
“I just told Aaron that you’ve got to be able to play with four fouls because if this was a (state tournament) game, there’s no tomorrow,” North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman said. “But I was very proud of the kids for getting back in the game.”
North Chicago, which drops to 19-5, has won six Prairie Division titles overall and five in a row. The Warhawks also got 17 points out of sophomore forward Kurt Hall and 10 points each out of senior forwards Marzhon Bryant and Kevante Curry and senior guard Kelly Brown.
Two other players also finished in double-figures for Warren. Reserve guard JoVaughn Gaines had 13 points and starting point guard Jameris Smith had 11 points.
Smith tweaked an old knee injury in the fourth quarter and sat out for a minute or two but was back on the court, albeit limping slightly.
“I possibly tore my MCL again,” Smith said. “I tore it in an AAU game last year right after we went downstate. And it feels like that again. But I’ll just put a brace on it and keep playing. There’s no way I’m going to miss the rest of the season. I should be fine. I’m a tough kid. It’s my senior year. A little injury like this wouldn’t keep me back.”