Warren prevails over Lake Zurich in OT

There have been a number of games this season where Warren's boys basketball team has lost down the stretch.

But the Blue Devils turned it around to start the new year with the help of Craig Burton's defense. Burton also dropped in a career-high 21 points and teammate Marquise Thomas scored all 7 of his points in a 56-51 North Suburban Lake overtime victory over Lake Zurich in Gurnee.

However, you can't tell Burton he's a big scoring threat.

Burton snatched a momentum-swinging steal early in overtime right out of Bears' Aaron Lewandowski hands and it led Thomas to a key transition basket.

"Lewandowski was getting a lot of points (18), I just stayed off of him a bit," said Burton. "If (Lewandowski) scored the bucket, the momentum would've gone up for (Lake Zurich). I just took it away. Defense, that's what I'm here for, it's the primary thing I do."

It helped Warren break a four-game losing streak.

"It's a win, we worked hard and it's not a work of art," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "Overtime session, we played pretty well. Our defense was decent not great. We were able to force some turnovers, but we need to force more."

Thomas scored the opening 6 points in the overtime and Warren (3-8, 2-2) outscored Lake Zurich 10-5 in the extra four minutes.

"I was looking at the team not looking that good from the bench," Thomas said. "I wanted to give them a lift in overtime. I wanted to pick it up."

Lake Zurich (1-13, 0-4) did close within 53-51 as Mike Boyd made 1 of 2 free throws with 34 seconds left.

But Thomas made a free throw and Tanner Erbach closed the game with his only points on 2 free throws in the final seconds.

"This game could've gone either way," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "We needed a key basket here or a key basket there. We just didn't get it."

Lake Zurich's Marko Grcic added 15 points and Colin Rathe chipped in 10.