Augillard, Zion-Benton rally past Warren
Silent all night, stymied by Warren's frustrating ball-press zone, Zion-Benton's high-scoring Amar Augillard swooped in for a layup and finished in transition.
Finally, 2 points for the 6-foot-5 sophomore. With less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter of Friday night's game in Gurnee, the Zee-Bees' comeback was on.
"I just saw an opening and I had to wake up," said Augillard, who shot 0 of 9 through three quarters. "It was just time."
Augillard then stole the ball, dunked with one hand, and the cheers from the visiting fans grew loud. When his right-corner 3-pointer splashed into the net, giving Zion-Benton a one-point lead with 39 seconds left, Warren's home fans went silent.
Augillard scored all 12 of his points in the fourth, and Zion-Benton rallied from nine down in the quarter to stun Warren 50-47 on Senior Night in North Suburban Conference action.
"That's what good players do," said Blue Devils forward Adnan Sarancic, who scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. "They play well in the clutch."
Warren (12-13, 4-6) has seen Augillard do this before. He hit a couple of 3-pointers down the stretch in the teams' first meeting, when the Blue Devils pulled out a 48-46 win on Jan. 7.
"He knocks down shots," Warren coach Jon Jasnoch said.
Warren has seen fourth-quarter leads disappear before. That only added to the frustration.
"It's happened a few times this year," Sarancic said. "I thought we would have learned our lesson by now. It's unfortunate, especially on Senior Night. You want to do it for our seniors."
Zion-Benton (10-13, 4-6) had lost three games in a row and looked like it was headed to its fourth straight when Warren's Juan DelaCruz (15 points off the bench) hit a short shot on the baseline to extend the Blue Devils' lead to 43-34 with 6:50 left in the fourth.
"We just wanted to grind it out at that point. Which is what got us there too," Jasnoch said.
Instead, a suddenly confident Augillard sparked a 7-0 run for the Zee-Bees, who also got a pair of free throws from Kaleb Naylor (6 points) during their comeback.
"Sometimes we come back like that, but we have up-and-down games," Zion-Benton junior Damontae Taylor said. "This time we came through strong, like we should have. This game really meant something for us."
Taylor scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the first half, mainly on strong drives. He shot 9 of 10 from the floor, but missed all 6 of his free throws. With Augillard's jumper off (0 of 5 from beyond the arc in the first three quarters), and the Zee-Bees turning the ball over 15 times in the first half, Taylor kept his team close.
"I felt like I had to step up and keep my team in it," said Taylor, who also had 8 rebounds.
"Damontae Taylor was keeping it going for us, and I just followed his path," Augillard said. "We just fought harder. We were tired of losing."
The Zee-Bees outscored the Blue Devils 19-6 in the fourth. Warren turned the ball over six times in the quarter, including twice in the final 11 seconds, and shot a staggering 6 of 20 from the foul line.
"Zion kept playing hard," Jasnoch said. "I thought we played hard. We just didn't always play smart, and we missed a lot of free throws. You miss that many free throws and it's tough to win against a good team like this."