Payne, Lake Forest hand Warren a setback

Mead Payne scored 7 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, and Lake Forest beat host Warren 53-45 in North Suburban Conference boys basketball action Saturday night.

The loss for Warren (13-10, 5-3) dropped the Blue Devils a game back of first-place co-leaders Libertyville and Stevenson. Lake Forest improved to 8-11 and 3-5.

Branden Ellis scored 19 points for Warren, which closed the third quarter with a 13-0 run to close within 31-29. The Blue Devils then scored the first four points of the fourth. They led 40-38 after Ellis finished a layup off a steal and pass by Ian Schilling.

But Jack Van Hyfte's third 3-pointer of the game put Lake Forest in front with 3:38 left, igniting a 12-2 run. Ellis' dunk was Warren's only basket during the run.

Van Hyfte and Ben Gibson (7 rebounds) each had 11 points for the Scouts.

Barak Diehl added 8 points for Warren.

Fremd 62, Grant 43: Junior Bryce Hopkins drained three 3s and scored a career-best 32 points to help the visiting Vikings pick up a nonconference win.

Hopkins also contributed 11 rebounds and 5 blocks as Fremd (13-8) managed to outscore the Bulldogs in each period.

"He really had a complete game and excelled at both ends of the floor," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski of Hopkins.

Senior forward Ryan Martin had 10 points and Jake Schoffstall 8 to help the Vikings salvage a weekend split.

Hunter Waszkowski paced Grant (9-11), which had played two overtimes to defeat Grayslake Central on Friday, with 10 points. Henry Kusiak had 9 points, and Mike Huff and Torren Curry both finished with 8.

Fremd limited the Bulldogs to 6 points in the opening quarter, and Widlowski credited Will Schmeling for a sound defensive job against Huff.

"I thought Will really did a nice job against No. 3 (Huff)," said Widlowski. "And as a team, we just were not giving him many good looks."