Warren cruises to Proviso West championship
It was a night of firsts for the Warren Blue Devils boys basketball team Saturday night at Proviso West.
Warren, in their first tournament appearance, brought home the first place trophy to Gurnee with a 78-52 win over Lincoln Park from Chicago.
It was also the first time in the 62-year history of the long-standing tournament that a freshman was named the MVP.
That award went to Jaxson Davis.
Davis awed onlookers with a dazzling performance of three-point baskets, layups, and drives to the basket.
"I work on on my game," said Davis. "It just came to me naturally and I had to learn how to maneuver around bigger guys around the rim. The biggest thing about playing high school basketball is the physicality. I still have to learn how to come off screens without defenders facing guarding me so I can get my teammates the ball. I know it's an honor to be named MVP but I know have still have to work and push."
Davis now joins a recent group of MVP's including Jalen Brunson, Lucas Williamson, Jesus Perez and Daniel Johnson.
Warren coach Zach Ryan had his thoughts on Davis.
"Teams are beginning to face guard him and he's learning on how to adjust to that," said Ryan. "As a freshman his composure is there. He doesn't try to push it and plays with a great pace. We have nice cast of guys so teams can't solely try to defend just him."
Davis scored 36 points in the Blue Devils win. He shot 14 of 22 from the field, dished out 5 assists and had 3 steals.
Senior Alex Daniels, who earned all-tournament honors, scored 17 points to go with four rebounds. Jack Wolf was the other Blue Devil to score in double figures with 10 points. Wolf also had three assists and steals for Warren (15-1).
"It means a lot to win this one but we also expected to win it," said Daniels. "It's no surprise that as a team we’re good. We put in the work and we're winning. There's still more to come."
Lincoln Park (12-4), who played the last few games without 6-foot-10 junior Cam Toussiant, was paced by Chase Turner and Semaje Howard with each scoring 12 points. Keyshawn Barfield added 11 and Damian Pearson 10.
A close first quarter found Warren leading 13-12. But Davis and Daniels turned it on in the second quarter.
Davis would score 14 points and Daniels 11 in the quarter as Warren opened up a 40-24 halftime lead.
"Our defense wasn't that great at the start so we had to start to pick it up," said Daniels. "When we played better defense that led to offense. We all felt pretty confident going into this one."
The closest the Lions would get was 45-34 with 3:55 left in the third quarter. Davis would then outscore Lincoln Park with 10 points for a 52-38 lead at the end of the quarter.
Wolf converted a three-point play and another basket to build a 57-39 lead with 6:34 left in the game and Lincoln Park could not recover.
Warren scored 17 points off of turnovers, had 20 assists and had 16 fastbreak points.
Lincoln Park, who usually shoots well from three-point range, was 1-of-11.
"To come and to win this tournament that was very competitive with a lot of good teams and come out of it 4-0 is a great testament to our guys," said Ryan. "We played hard and defended well. Hat’s off to our kids."