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Starring role for Z-B’s Admiral

Credit this Zion-Benton win to the Admiral.

No, not the former Navy star David Robinson, but a real Admiral.

In the first half of the Warren vs. Zion-Benton matchup, Zee-Bees oversized guard Admiral Schofield (6-foot-5) had one dunk shot and 6 missed free throws.

Zion-Benton (18-1) opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter over Warren in this NSC Lake Division battle on Friday night.

The upstart Blue Devils went on a 15-0 run, taking a 50-46 lead with three minutes to play.

And then Schofield took over the game, scoring 12 of his game-high 21 points in the final quarter.

Warren (12-9) went home empty-handed after a painful 61-57 loss.

How, you may wonder, did Schofield get that first name, anyway?

“My dad was in the military,’’ Schofield said.

And he was also gracious to the Blue Devils.

“Warren could be a top 10 team in the state,’’ Schofield said. “They just need to play team ball.”

This Admiral was also complimentary toward his own Zee-Bees teammates.

“We have great team chemistry,’’ he said. “We play for each other. We want to go downstate.”

On the other side, it appeared Warren coach Ryan Webber had lost his best friend. Clearly, this defeat stung.

“I didn’t like our defense all night long,’’ Webber said. “They had guys who made shots. We were not executing well. We weren’t screening the whole night.”

Warren senior guard James Betori (9 points) might have been even more blunt.

“Our defense collapsed in the fourth quarter,’’ Betori said. “We took bad shots. We didn’t execute. We were beating Zion at our place by 9 at halftime and let that slip away. This just isn’t sitting well.”

Warren clearly is tiring of moral victories, but the visitors sure put a scare into this powerful Zee-Bees club. After the Schofield dunk, Zion held a 23-12 lead halfway through the second quarter. No one would have predicted at that point that Warren would score the last 15 points of the quarter.

Betori had 5 of those points including the 3-pointer that closed the half.

“We were doing some smart things,’’ Betori said.

Zion tied the game at 30-30 early in the third quarter, and again Warren went

on a run. Eric Gillespie (18 points) had 6 of those points in the final two minutes of the quarter as Warren took a 43-34 lead late in the quarter.

Four straight missed free throws hurt Warren’s cause in the final quarter.

Two fouls shots from Adrian Deere (14 points) knotted it at 52-52, but Warren didn’t score again until Gillespie landed a 3-pointer in the final 15 seconds.

In the meantime, the Admiral landed 8 straight points.

Zion star Milik Yarbrough was held to 14 points and Trenton Curry had 9 points. Greg Swain scored 9 points to bolster Warren.

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