Lake Zurich’s boys basketball team posted a 62-57 overtime victory over Warren in the championship game of the Hoffman Estates Class 4A regional. It was the Bears’ first win over Warren this season after two regular-season losses to the Blue Devils.

Introducing the Daily Herald’s Lake County boys basketball team, featuring players from the North Suburban and Northern Lake County Conferences plus Carmel Catholic and Vernon Hills.

Thanks to a late first-half run, Warren’s boys basketball team pulled away from Highland Park en route to a 78-50 triumph in Class 4A Hoffman Estates regional semifinal play Wednesday.

Survive and advance.It’s a phrase you hear often during this time of year as postseason play begins.On Tuesday, two of the North Suburban Conference tri-champions, Stevenson and Libertyville, lived up to the phrase in their regional openers.Wednesday night saw Warren, followed suit — emphatically. The Blue Devils thrived and prospered, leaving Highland Park in the rearview mirror.Thanks to a late first-half run, the Blue Devils pulled away from the Giants en route to a 78-50 triumph in the Class 4A Hoffman Estates regional semifinal.Ninth-seeded Warren will face top-seeded sectional host Lake Zurich (23-7) Friday evening for the third time this season. The Blue Devils won the two previous meetings in NSC play.“We’ve had some great practices as of late where our guys have brought a high amount of energy,” Warren coach Jon Jasnoch said. “All of those guys were really excited about starting regionals tonight and you saw them get off to a good start early.”That promising start for the Blue Devils (19-11) came courtesy of Branden Ellis. The 6-3 senior put 12 of Warren’s 15 points on the board during the first eight minutes, including their first 10 commencing with consecutives threes followed by back-to-back lay-ups as he engaged in a scoring dual with the Giants’ Ziv Tal, who tallied all of eighth-seeded Highland Park’s 12 first-period points.Where the contest turned in the Blue Devils’ favor is when Ellis found a scoring partner in Ian Schilling. The 6-1 senior’s layup at the 5:28 mark completed a 9-2 run that gave Warren its first double-digit lead of the night at 24-14.After back-to-back baskets from the Giants’ Tyler Gussis and Lucas Fleisher brought them within 24-18, Warren began the game’s decisive surge with an Adnan Sarancic hoop followed by the first of Schilling’s five treys that launched a 15-5 tear. Warren led 39-23 at the break. “We started to make shots,” Schilling, who finished with 19 points, said. “We started splashing threes. We had a great feel for our shot selection in the face of the good defense that Highland Park had for us. It also shows that when you keep working the ball for a good shot, it can come to you much easier.”Only a Tal layup to start half number two got Highland Park (15-11) any closer than 14 the rest of the way.The 6-1 senior Giant led them in the scoring column with 23 points, in addition he earned plaudits from Warren’s leading scorer Ellis (25 points).“He’s great.” Ellis said. “We had a chance to watch him on film and from what we saw he has this endless, limitless ability to do so many things well. After the game we spoke and he wished us well and we both came away with a tremendous mutual respect for one another.”Those well-wishes from Tal will be needed for Warren as it gets set to face a Lake Zurich team it beat twice already this season with a 51-44 win on the Bears’ home floor just 18 days ago.“There’s a sense of familiarity between both teams,” Jasnoch said. “Everybody knows everybody and has played with both each and one another. Both games were close and it will be a really exciting atmosphere against a really great competitor.”

Warren’s boys basketball team shares the North Suburban Conference title with Libertyville and Stevenson after topping the visiting Patriots 51-40 on Wednesday.

Warren’s boys basketball team ran its winning streak against North Suburban Conference foes to four with a 59-50 victory over visiting Mundelein on Monday in the make-up of a snowed-out Friday contest earlier this month.

Logan McCann drained a jumper with 4 seconds left to lift Lakes past Carmel Catholic 65-63 on Tuesday in nonconference boys basketball.

Stevenson struggled with its shooting but found the range often enough to earn a 39-30 victory over visiting Zion-Benton in North Suburban Conference boys basketball. And as a result, the Patriots are alone atop the league standings after having won their sixth straight.

Drew Peterson was his usual productive self with 19 points and 5 rebounds against visiting Warren on Saturday, but his playmaking flair was the key as Libertyville’s boys basketball team shot 67 percent from the field in a 62-43 victory in North Suburban Conference play.

The 2018 Class of the Lake County High School Sports Hall of Fame will be inducted at halftime of the College of Lake County men’s basketball game on Thursday in Grayslake.

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.

Jackson Qualley scored 17 points, Tyler Turk provided a second-half spark, and Stevenson’s boys basketball team beat visiting Warren 45-34 Wednesday night.

Barak Diehl’s 12 points led a balanced scoring attack, and Warren’s boys basketball team defeated host Zion-Benton 53-43 Saturday night, taking over sole possession of first place in the North Suburban Conference in the process.

Warren senior guard Branden Ellis is making his mark through a relentless commitment to defense, along with an interesting assortment of pets.

Behind Barak Diehl’s career-high 24 points, Warren led for most of the night, staved off a furious rally by Waukegan down the stretch and pulled out a 64-54 win in a North Suburban Conference boys basketball showdown Wednesday night.

James Connolly scored on an offensive rebound to beat the buzzer, lifting Grayslake North’s boys basketball team to a 58-56 win in overtime over Richmond-Burton in Lake Zurich’s sixth annual Martin Luther King Classic on Monday.

Jeff Bikus scored a game-high 26 points, and Mundelein’s boys basketball team defeated Grayslake North 76-71 to complete a 2-0 showing Saturday in Lake Zurich’s sixth annual Martin Luther King Classic.

Warren’s boys basketball team edged out Mundelein 44-43 on Tuesday in North Suburban Conference play.

Lance Jones’ basket at the buzzer lifted Evanston’s boys basketball team to a 66-64 win over Carmel Catholic in the fifth-place game of the Centralia Holiday Tournament Saturday night.

Mundelein’s boys basketball team was looking Friday night to continue its hot start in DeKalb’s Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic and earn a championship-game berth.The Mustangs fell just short, as Lemont pulled out a 67-62 win.

West Aurora’s boys basketball team opened the Pontiac Holiday Tournament Thursday with a 72-50 win over Warren.

Glenbrook South 49, Warren 41: The visiting Titans won the nonconference boys basketball game to cool off the Blue Devils, who had won four of their last five.

Josh Steinhaus scored 8 of his season-high 22 points in overtime, and Libertyville’s boys basketball team stayed hot with a 65-60 win over visiting Lake Forest in a North Suburban Conference thriller Tuesday night.

Drew Peterson poured in 37 points, and Libertyville’s boys basketball team knocked off host Waukegan 63-54 in North Suburban Conference action Friday night.

Libertyville’s boys basketball team held off host Warren 59-54 in the two teams’ North Suburban Conference opener without the help of 6-foot-8 senior guard Drew Peterson in the last half of the fourth quarter.

Warren defeated Jacobs 49-46 in a nonconference boys basketball game Saturday.

Libertyville’s boys basketball team wrapped up tournament play at St. Viator with an 85-75 loss to Evanston on Saturday. Wildcats senior forward Drew Peterson eclipsed the career 1,000-point mark in the decision with another big performance.

Bryce Hopkins had all of his 9 points in the second half as Fremd’s boys basketball team finished with 10 three-pointers in a 62-50 victory over Warren in tournament play Friday at Mundelein.

Branden Ellis’ season-high 22 points and Barak Diehl’s 13 led Warren’s boys basketball team to a 53-48 win over Deerfield on third-day action of the Mundelein Thanksgiving tournament on Wednesday night.

On the second day of its own Thanksgiving tournament, Mundelein, led by first-year coach Matt Badgley, defeated North Suburban Conference power Warren 70-52.

For starters, this wasn’t a bad start for the Warren boys basketball team. After a sluggish first quarter that coach Jon Jasnoch called “a first-game quarter,” the Blue Devils scored 12 of the last 13 points to close the half en route to a 72-52 win over Lake Forest Academy at the Mundelein Holiday Tournament.

Here’s what to expect from the high school boys basketball teams of the North Suburban Conference this season.