Proud moment for Pieper, Warren
He wasn’t the leading scorer, and he won’t make ESPN for a highlight reel dunk, but this was still very much a night that Warren senior Timmy Pieper will not soon forget.
As halftime of the Blue Devils nonconference contest with Deerfield came, the butterflies began to build for Pieper. This wasn’t any ordinary halftime for Pieper, or for Warren. It marked a celebration of the Class 4A state championship soccer team that Pieper played on last fall.
To make the moment even more special, the entire Warren basketball team came out of the locker room early to cheer on their teammate.
“We wanted to show that we are a team and we support him in every way,” said Warren junior Adrian Deere. “It’s a big thing to win state and we wanted to be there as a team.”
On the court, Pieper scored just 5 points, but when his first bucket fell with 7:02 left in the game, the cheers could have easily been mistaken for those that normally accompany a game-winning basket. Instead, it was 2 points that were part of a 66-30 romp over Deerfield by Warren.
“The win was nice for sure,” Pieper said. “The whole week I was walking around school with my teammates looking forward to this night.”
Warren (10-8) made quick work of the visiting Warriors with a dominant first-quarter performance. The Blue Devils pitched a shutout in the first quarter 22-0 holding Deerfield to just 5 shots while forcing 10 turnovers.
“We just ran our stuff to perfection and had a jump to our step, like coach was looking for,” said Deere who scored 6 of his 10 points in the opening quarter.
The margin grew in the second as Deerfield (7-9) remained without a point until finally scoring early in the period. Warren had a 43-9 lead at halftime and sat its starters early in the third quarter.
“When we are at our best, we have five guys flying around, all going for the ball,” said Warren coach Ryan Webber. “We are constantly emphasizing that we win with constant sustained effort, and that’s the type of play we had tonight.”
Aarias Austin and Dominic Cuevas tied for game-high scoring honors with 11 each for Warren. Ten players scored for the Blue Devils.