Boys Basketball: Warren tops Mundelein in key NSC Lake game
By Bryan Bonato Contributor January 29, 2012 3:02PM
Chino Ebube of Mundelein drives to the basket against Warren's Nathan Boothe. | Joe Shuman~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 30, 2012 4:46PM
Trailing by a point midway through the third quarter, host Warren outscored Mundelein 25-7 in an 8:47 stretch around the third-quarter break and went on to win 87-78 on Saturday.
Warren (15-2 overall, 6-1 in the North Suburban Conference) now has a game lead and the tiebreaker edge over Mundelein (19-5 and 6-2) in the North Suburban Conference Lake Division race.
The game was played at Mundelein’s high-octane pace, but Warren showed it could beat the Mustangs at their own game.
Darius Paul had a career-high 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the winners.
Nathan Boothe added 23 points and 17 boards, while Jameris Smith (12 points, eight assists) and JoVaughn Gaines (14 points, six assists, five rebounds) also had big games.
Warren had a 37-23 rebounding edge in the game.
Warren’s fifth starter, Mitch Munda, had the Devils’ other eight points.
“It was a very good offensive game for both teams. It was fast-paced without a lot of turnovers,” said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey. “Defensively, we didn’t do a very good job.
“I’ll give credit to the offenses. Both teams were making shots (Warren was 32-of-66 and Mundelein was 31-of-66, including 10-of-23 from long range), but we made a lot of defensive mistakes tonight. We still have a lot of work to do.”
Ramsey said the 25-7 run was the only stretch of the game where his team played defense.
For Mundelein, junior guard Robert Knar had 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc.
Sean O’Brien had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore guard Nate Williams added 12.
Paul was 12-of-19 from the field, including 5-of-6 from downtown.
“They were double-teaming Nathan and not me, so I had some open shots,” Paul said. “It’s a good feeling. I try to make every shot. It just seemed like all the shots I was throwing up went in tonight.”
As for playing at Mundelein’s frenetic pace, Paul gave it a big thumb’s up — out of sight of his coach, of course.
Despite the loss, Knar feels like he and his teammates accomplished something against a team they’ve had zero luck against.
“We’re not big on moral victories, but tonight showed us something,” the junior said. “It showed us that they’re not unbeatable. We were able to play them tough at their place,” said the junior. “We’re going to take it a game at a time and hopefully we can get a shot at them in sectionals.”
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