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Bruising victory for Stevenson

A hustling Jalen Brunson ran into a brick wall - Caleb Reams, actually - fouled and tumbled, landing on his left shoulder.

Stevenson's star won't lose many battles. Most high school basketball players, however, won't fare well when crashing into Reams, Warren's 6-foot-3, 240-pound University of Illinois football commit.

"I'm just icing it. It's a little sore," Brunson said of his shoulder. "It's got a little bruise on it. I kept trying to stretch it out (during the game). But I should be fine."

At game's end, all was well for Stevenson and Brunson, too. Brunson, who didn't miss any time on the court after his first-quarter collision with Reams, scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Stevenson held off a furious rally by the visiting Blue Devils to win 50-41 Friday night.

Matt Johnson added 10 points for Stevenson, which improved to 7-0 and 3-0 in the North Suburban Lake Division. Warren (4-6, 2-2) slowed down the Patriots with its ball-press zone, but the Blue Devils had only 11 points at halftime and never got going offensively until trailing by 18 points midway through the fourth quarter.

"It's a good learning experience for our kids just to play against a team that plays at that high of a level," Warren coach Ryan Webber said. "I thought as the game went on we made some improvements. They just do so many things that you can't simulate in practice. I was proud of our effort."

Warren held Stevenson to a season-low point total and 17-of-43 shooting (40 percent). The Patriots missed 3 dunk attempts.

"(Warren's zone) is a lot tougher than playing against a man to man because they trap the ball on you," said Stevenson's 6-7 sophomore Justin Smith, who scored 6 of his 8 points on 3 dunks. "You don't know what they're going to do, because they can do so many things out of their zone. It's tough to replicate in practice."

Playing for the first time since a 78-55 win over Libertyville on Dec. 10, Stevenson didn't take the lead until Brunson fed Parker Nichols for a layup with 3:15 left in the first quarter. The Patriots missed several shots in-tight, before a pair of dunks by Smith got them energized.

"Warren's a good team and caused us problems with that unique zone and unique offense," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "We certainly worked at it all week. We had nine days off. Maybe too many days off."

Webber thought his team "hit a lull" defensively in the second quarter when the Blue Devils got outscored 15-6. Brunson and Connor Cashaw (8 points) opened the quarter with 3-pointers to extend Stevenson's lead to 17-5, and Johnson sank a 3 in the final 30 seconds, as the Patriots went into halftime up 26-11.

Warren still trailed by 15 points after three, but after Reams fed Maurice Chambers (11 points) for a layup to get the Blue Devils within 40-28, Brunson took over. The senior point guard scored on a turnaround shot and then a drive, and Nichols' 2 free throws hiked Stevenson's lead to its largest at 46-28 with 3:52 to go.

"We were having some conversations about what needed to be done," said Ambrose, referring to Brunson. "We made a couple of minor adjustments - that I'll keep to myself because we'll play them again - that increased his scoring. He just decided to keep the ball in his hands a lot. Which is good."

Jake Falish (team-high 16 points, four 3-pointers) sank a pair of 3s and layup during an 11-0 run that got Warren within 46-39. The Blue Devils were still down by just seven points with 57 seconds left after 2 free throws by Zach Schultz (4 points, 7 rebounds). But Brunson matched Schultz's foul tosses and the Patriots didn't allow the visitors to score again.

"They're just so well-coached," Brunson said of the Blue Devils. "I'm glad we had a week and a half to prepare. Coach Webber is a very good coach. Offensively, he's a guru. He runs a lot of stuff, and they play hard."

  Stevenson's Justin Smith dunks the ball past Warren's CJ Payawal during Friday night's game in Lincolnshire. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com
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