Thomas' heroics lift Warren past hard-luck LZ
After playing an overtime game at Warren two weeks ago and almost going to overtime again Friday night at Lake Zurich, you could say that the Blue Devils and Bears' boys basketball teams were fit to be tied.
Warren held a 10-point lead on two different occasions in the second half, but the Blue Devils were unable to put Lake Zurich away for good until the final second of the contest as a driving layup by senior Marquise Thomas carried the Blue Devils to an exciting 51-49 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory over the Bears.
Warren (8-10, 5-5) led 47-37 early in the fourth quarter, but a 12-2 run by Lake Zurich (1-20, 0-10) deadlocked the score at 49-49 with 1:46 to play.
The Blue Devils called timeout with 1:37 remaining, and they ran the clock down to 19.9 seconds when a foul on the Bears gave Warren the ball out of bounds on the side.
Thomas missed a 10-footer in the lane with five seconds to go, but the ball was knocked out of bounds by Lake Zurich with 2.9 seconds left to set up Thomas' last-second heroics.
The ball went inbounds to Thomas on the left baseline and he drove straight for the basket before calmly putting in the layup with one second to play, as the final buzzer sounded moments later and the Blue Devils celebrated another narrow escape over the Bears.
"When I came around the corner I noticed everybody was coming at me full speed and I just kept my control and kept going," said Thomas, who also hit a game-winning shot from half court to beat Lake Zurich in a sophomore game. "We've just been practicing as hard as possible and lately we have all just been on the same page."
Friday's loss was just one of many hard-luck defeats the Bears have suffered this season, as Warren went on an 11-2 run to end the second quarter and put Lake Zurich in a 33-25 deficit at halftime.
Thomas scored 6 points in the first half, and his game-winning shot was his only field goal after intermission.
"We were screening for Marquise Thomas to get him the ball and it was a great read by Marquise - he saw the opening and he took it," said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey, whose team was outrebounded 23-21. "Lake Zurich is so much better than their record it's ridiculous. They're a physical team and they kept us out of position."
The Blue Devils led 22-18 after a very fast-paced first quarter as Warren junior Jeremiah Jackson (10 rebounds) scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the first half.
Warren built a 39-29 lead early in the third quarter, but the teams played to a 12-12 tie in that period to make the score 45-37 headed into the final stanza.
Lake Zurich senior Aaron Lewandowski hit a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, while junior teammate Colin Rathe also reached double figures with 12 points and Marko Grcic chipped in 6 points.
Thomas and sophomore teammate Jo Vaughn Gaines scored 8 points each, and teammate Craig Burton scored all 7 of his points in the first half.
"We really needed the rebound on the missed shot (with five seconds left), and that set up the inbounds play," said Lake Zurich coach John Zarr, whose team shot 40 percent from the field. "Most of our kids are young and young kids need to learn how to win. These are games that a year from now we hope there will be a different outcome."