Smith, Zion-Benton too hot for Warren to handle

It seemed somewhat appropriate that Zion-Benton senior Lenzelle Smith was in the training room icing down his sore right ankle after the Zee-Bees' North Suburban Lake Division opener at Warren.

While it was important for the Ohio State-bound Smith to ice down an ankle that had caused him to miss two games for the Bees so far this season, a case could be made that the ice bag was the only way that Smith could be cooled down all night.

In another stellar performance at the Warren gym, Smith scored 18 of his game-best 25 points in the first half and Zion held off a late Warren charge to win 58-51 Friday night in Gurnee.

"I thought we played hard as a team tonight," Smith said as he iced down his ankle. "But you have to give a lot of credit to Warren, too. That is a good team that is hard to beat every time we play them."

Smith started hot and stayed that way pretty much throughout the night for Zion-Benton (3-3, 1-0). Smith scored 13 of Zion's first 19 points as the visitors built up a 29-22 halftime advantage.

"I think we came in here tonight hoping to play a good ball game," Zion coach Don Kloth said. "Any time you win a game in the North Suburban Conference, particularly on the road, it's a positive."

Warren (1-3, 0-1) stayed within striking distance of Zion early in the second half thanks to Shahron Thomas, who led the Devils with 14 points despite running into foul trouble most of the night. Thomas' bucket early in the third quarter got the Devils within 31-26, but that's as close as Warren got.

"I thought we were better at times defensively tonight. We were better than we had been," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "We have to continue to be more aggressive to get to the level of playing good caliber winning varsity defense."

Defense was a strong suit for Zion as the Bees did a good job mixing it up changing from a zone to a man-to-man set. The packed in defense forced Warren to shoot from long range and it wasn't until late in the fourth quarter before the Devils finally took advantage.

Warren scored 23 fourth-quarter points and pulled to within 56-51 with :12 seconds to go after along 3-pointer by sophomore Jameris Smith (8 points).

"I thought the kids competed and didn't give up," Ramsey said. "But it doesn't matter if a team is in a zone or man-to-man, you've still got to make shots."

Owen Worthington was the only other player in double figures with 14 for the Zee-Bees.