Warren pulls away from Libertyville for 20th win

Warren junior Jack Wolf understands that fulfilling his primary roles off the bench and playing with freshman Jaxson Davis will open up opportunities to get on an offensive roll.

The 6-foot-4 Wolf's defense and rebounding gave him extended minutes in Friday night's North Suburban Conference boys basketball game at Libertyville. The passing of Davis, who had missed basically the last three games with a left ankle injury, assisted Wolf to 17 points in a 79-66 victory that kept Warren (20-3, 6-1) in a three-way tie for first in the conference with Lake Zurich and Lake Forest.

Davis had 22 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds, Javerion Banks scored 17 and Alex Daniels added 9 points as eight Blue Devils scored and they won 20 games for the first time since Chuck Ramsey's final season as head coach in 2011-12.

"To me our team is great because of our depth," said Wolf, who hit three 3-pointers, shot 6-for-13 from the field and had 9 rebounds. "We know if one guy gets stopped we have five more. It's a great feeling knowing we've got another guy."

And knowing that Davis will find the other hot hands that make the Blue Devils tough to defend. Davis finished his scoring with his third 3-pointer just 2:40 after halftime but was hardly done impacting the game 7 assists the rest of the way as they finished at 50.9 percent from the field (29-for-57).

Davis injured his ankle in the first minute of a two-game tournament in New York last weekend but said playing with it taped up wasn't an issue. He had to come out for a few brief stretches in the fourth quarter with leg cramps.

"Not only is he a great scorer, but he's an incredible passer and that makes them hard to guard," said Libertyville coach Bryan Zyrkowski.

"We're going to be extremely tough," Davis said of having seven players score en route to a 23-17 first-quarter lead. "It takes the pressure off when you have teammates who are knocking down shots and have your back. It's an amazing feeling."

But the Wildcats (8-11, 2-5) handled the Blue Devils' pressure much better than in a 25-point loss in the first matchup six weeks ago in Gurnee. Junior Liam Hanson (20 points on 6-for-10 on 3s), 6-7 sophomore Bryce Wegrzyn (18 points, 9 rebounds) and senior Ben Van Lyssel (13 points, 5 rebounds) exhibited their improvement since an early five-game losing streak as they shot 54.3 percent from the field (25-for-46) and 10-for-22 behind the arc.

"They're a different team than when we played them early," said Warren coach Zack Ryan, whose team was without sophomore starting guard Braylon Walker (shoulder injury).

"We did a nice job of keeping this a game and grinding it out and keeping it close," Zyrkowski said. "At one point we were right there."

Libertyville got within 2 points three times in the third quarter and was 17-for-25 from the field when a 3 by Hanson, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, cut the deficit to 49-45.

But Josh Stewart drew a charge on Libertyville's next possession and that led to consecutive baskets by Banks. Wolf scored 14 points in the final 9:34 and his banked-in 3 gave the Blue Devils their largest lead at 72-56 with 3:41 to play.

"Coach always says, 'If you come in you'd better give effort on defense first,'" Wolf said. "We spaced them out (offensively) and my shot was feeling great."

And Ryan said "it was nice to see us knock down some shots" after struggling recently. Especially with two big NSC tests next week at Stevenson on Tuesday and against Lake Zurich on Friday.

"Coach tells us we're getting everybody's best shot now," Davis said.