Ausburn steps into spotlight as Warren beats Waukegan in 2OT
Zach Ausburn feels a little new to the Warren basketball scene, since he's a senior first-time starter.
But the 6-foot-8 center has actually been around for a long time and gave the Blue Devils exactly what they needed this year. Ausburn scored a season-high 23 points Friday to help carry Warren to a grueling 70-60 victory over Waukegan in double overtime.
The Blue Devils (25-10) advance to the NIU supersectional for the second straight year and will face Rolling Meadows on Monday at 7:30. Warren lost a close one to Palatine in last year's super.
Generally an undersized team, the Blue Devils badly needed some size on the front line and Ausburn delivered. A lifelong Gurnee native, Ausburn may have rode the bench last season, but he played on the sophomore team as a freshman.
“I've know Zach since I was a little kid,” senior teammate Jack Wolf said. “We played soccer back in the day. He's taking the physicality role, which many people don't talk about. We needed someone to go in there and get hit. He's done that pretty dang well.”
This game was pretty much nothing but physical play. Waukegan point guard Carter Newsome had a bloody lower lip. Warren's all-state sophomore Jaxson Davis went to the locker room briefly after a collision in the second quarter.
“I love those games,” Ausburn said. “Those are my favorite, just being able to get physical and pretty much hitting bodies the whole game. In the offseason, I worked on my post moves, footwork got a lot better, conditioning got a lot better and I was able to get a lot stronger.”
Warren coach Zack Ryan appreciated his center taking the giant step forward.
“This summer, we went small a lot, but then with Zach kind of emerging, he gave us that inside presence we needed to fill the gaps from last year,” Ryan said. “Difference-maker. We wouldn't have won the game without him.”
Davis (22 points) finished the first half with a 35-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer and it looked like Warren might run away with it after taking a 39-27 lead midway through the third quarter.
But the top-seeded Bulldogs sprang to life with a 14-0 run, which included 3-pointers from Newsome, Adrian Serrano and Simereon Carter. The atmosphere in Waukegan's historic old gym was electric.
The fourth quarter was tight throughout. Wolf's layup off a pass from Javerion Banks tied the score at 54-54 with 45 seconds left. Waukegan missed a pair of free throws with 12.6 seconds remaining and Davis' 3-pointer rimmed out just before the buzzer.
The first overtime featured just two long, empty possessions and no one scored. The action increased in the second OT. Warren took the lead with 2 free throws, then off a long rebound, the Blue Devils got one of their few fast break points with Banks racing out for a dunk. A 3-point play by Carter brought the Bulldogs within 60-58.
After a Warren free throw, Banks made one of the defensive plays of the night, taking a charge on a big collision with Xavi Granville with just over a minute left and a 3-point spread. When play resumed Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw drew technical foul, but it didn't have much effect on the outcome as Warren pulled away.
Carter led Waukegan with 16 points, while Newsome — who hit the game-winner at the buzzer against Rockford Guilford on Wednesday — added 15. Carter, Newsome, Serrano and center and Rico Love are all juniors, so the Bulldogs will have high expectations next year.
“It was a great fight,” Newsome said. “We knew it wasn't going to be nothing easy. We came down to the wire, double overtime game. It was a game to remember for a lifetime for sure.”