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Boys Basketball: Warren puts Waukegan away in second half
Updated: November 26, 2011 9:32PM
Warren completed a three-game sweep at the Waukegan holiday basketball tournament with a 57-43 win Saturday night over the host Bulldogs.
But despite going 3-0, the highly-touted Blue Devils didn’t hit on all cylinders all week, and retiring coach Chuck Ramsey is eager to get the squad back on the practice floor.
“We wanted to win the Thanksgiving tournament,” said Ramsey, whose team finished second in state last year, but didn’t win any of three in-season tourneys in which it played.
“That was one of the goals the kids set for themselves. We were better tonight, but we still lacked the focus and toughness we need to have.
“We have to get to the point where we defend and rebound like we did last year.
And make some shots.”
Making shots against Waukegan were twins towers Nathan Boothe and Darius Paul.
The 6-8 front-liners were a combined 18-of-30 from the field and finished with 46 points (26 for Paul).
The rest of the team, however, was just 4-of-22 against Waukegan’s ball-hawking defense.
“I think we all have a lot of work to do,” said Ramsey. “Our big guys scored some points, but they missed some little shots and weren’t always strong to the basket.”
On the other side, Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw saw his 1-2 team play its best game of the week.
“I’m fairly proud of the guys. We could have had a bitter taste coming out of the weekend, but against a nationally ranked type of team, we did some things that we can build off of.
“The most important thing is that the players feel that. The mood after the game was a little bit (more upbeat) tonight.”
Leading Waukegan was Akeem Springs (18 points on 6-of-23 shooting, including 4-of-14 from behind the arc).
Waukegan trailed by just 28-27 at halftime thanks to 7-of-17 3-point shooting..
But Warren scored nine straight points in the third quarter to move the score from 36-33 to 45-33. Waukegan didn’t get closer than 45-38 the rest of the way.
“We shot the ball well early, but we weren’t be able to sustain that,” said Ashlaw. “We didn’t get back to what allowed the game to stay competitive — that’s running our offense and guarding the heck out of them.”
Making the all-tourney team from Warren were Paul, Boothe and Roman Schultz.
Waukegan’s honorees were junior point guard Jordan Johnson, Springs and Devonte Taylor.
North Chicago’s picks were Aaron Simpson and Kurt Hall.
Lake Forest Academy’s honorees were Kori Babineaux and Faith Ekakitie.
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