Gillespie, Warren stop Lake Forest
In Warren’s signature victory of the season, the team’s leading scorer, Eric Gillespie, didn’t score one 1-point basket the entire night in Lake Forest.
That still left him with three 3-pointers and 12 free throws, good for 21 points and top scoring honors.
Twelve-game winner Lake Forest opened a quick 12-4 lead in this key NSC Lake Division matchup. And then Warren went on a 12-0 run.
It was still anyone’s game heading to the fourth quarter when Gillespie, all 5-foot-9 of him, took over the game. He scored 14 of his points in the decisive period as Warren stunned the winner of the York Tournament 55-43.
“This was a big win,’’ Gillespie said. “It’s what we needed.”
The senior knew he had to step up for his Blue Devils in the second half.
“In the first half, I wasn’t squaring up my shots,’’ Gillespie said. “In the second half, I was taking better shots.”
Lake Forest (12-3) has a special player in 6-8 junior Evan Boudreaux. In a sense, Warren (8-6) held him back somewhat as he finished with 16 points.
“We wanted to stop him from getting the ball in the middle,’’ Gillespie said.
Warren coach Ryan Webber was surprised his team played as well as it did. The cold weather had seemed to conspire against his club.
“This is unbelievable,’’ Webber said. “We lost four or five practices because of the snow. But we competed tonight. That’s the key word. Everything was competed for.”
Boudreaux battled early and got to the foul line as Lake Forest pulled ahead early.
“We wanted to make it tough for him to catch the ball,’’ Webber said.
Seemingly in trouble late in the first quarter, the Devils fought back with an Adrian Deere putback and a James Betori 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“They just played better than us,’’ said Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala. “They beat us in every facet of the game. Our passing wasn’t very good. Their defense was right on. It just wasn’t one our better games.”
Betori’s second 3-pointer opened up a 16-12 Warren lead early in the second quarter. Warren took a 25-20 lead to halftime. Again the home team stepped up to take a third-quarter lead as Boudreaux’s layup completed a 7-0 run.
Warren took a 33-31 lead to the fourth quarter thanks to a personal 5-point run by Deere (13 points).
Gillespie’s fourth quarter began with a 3-pointer. He added another 3-pointer in the final quarter. He also dropped in 8 free throws.
“He played great,’’ Webber said. “He’s so good as a point guard with the ball in his hands. And he can also play a two-guard. He made some good shots.”
When Gillespie wasn’t scoring, he was passing the ball off. His dish to Greg Swain (9 points) paid off with a score and Warren’s lead was 48-39 with three minutes to play. Swain’s bucket was the last field goal Warren scored as the Devils finished the game at the foul line.