Jokic, Warren hold off Libertyville in frenetic finish

Yo, that's a lot of "O" in Jovan Jokic.

Nearly as much, for example, as there was offense in Warren's 38-35 win over visiting Libertyville in a North Suburban Lake Division opener that, despite the lack of "O," provided a thrilling, wake-me-up finish Saturday night.

"It was real ugly," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "At least it was exciting at the end."

Trailing by the eventual final score with 2.0 seconds on the clock, after Warren (3-4) missed 2 free throws, Libertyville (3-2) got the basketball to one of its guards, who was fouled beyond the arc with no time on the clock. When the player missed the free throw, with the crowd roaring and no other players lined up, the host Blue Devils walked off the court winners.

"That was a good one," said Jokic, Warren's senior point guard.

That wasn't great offense. But then, Warren doesn't try to make that its identity, especially with the 6-foot-4, long-armed, athletic Jokic playing at the top of the Blue Devils' ball-press zone.

"If we get into it, have all the energy our coach wants us to have and scrap, it's tough to play against us," said Jokic, who collected 6 steals and scored 5 points. "Not every team is going to score what they expect to score."

Both teams played a deliberate, half-court style. Warren attempted just 31 shots, hitting 12 (39 percent), while Libertyville was 13 of 27 from the floor (48 percent).

"We struggled against their zone," Bogumil said. "We played Maine South, which played the same zone, and we struggled against them. We tried to get the ball to (center) Joe (Borcia). Once or twice in the second half we did some nice high-low stuff and the ref commented, 'Coach, you got to do it all the time.'

"We're trying."

The 6-foot-10 Borcia led Libertyville with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds. Conor Peterson, a 6-6 wing, had 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and breakaway dunk, while 6-6 Ben Kimpler hauled in 9 boards.

"They make it so difficult to get easy baskets inside," Warren coach Ryan Webber said of the Wildcats. "We wanted to space the floor and see if we could draw some guys away from the basket. Eventually we did enough of it to create some holes, but they have so much size on us."

Warren also has 5-10 Jake Falish, who scored a team-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Ethan Fowkes came off the bench in the second half for Libertyville and helped keep Falish from hitting any 3s in the final quarter.

"He was quicker and blocking me from the passing lanes," Falish, who hit three 3s in the opening half, said of Fowkes. "I wasn't able to get open as easily as I was in the first half. They did a good job of locking me down in the second half."

C.J. Payawal added 11 points for Warren. And it was the 6-3 Payawal's aggressive offensive rebound and dish to Jokic for a layup with 1:55 left in the fourth that put Warren up 33-32. The basket came after Peterson's 3 had given Libertyville its first lead since the second quarter.

Seconds later, Jokic stole the ball and fed Falish for a layup and three-point advantage.

Down the stretch, Libertyville missed 5 free throws. Warren went 2 of 5 from the foul line in the final 31 seconds.

Warren was coming off a 34-28 loss to Jacobs, as the Blue Devils went 0-for-15 from 3-point range.

"We just got to get a little better on offense," Jokic said. "It's a process."