Warren vs Palatine Recap: A Potential Semi-Final Matchup

On Saturday, the Blue Devils took on the 18-6 Palatine Pirates at home. This is the second game of a back to back for the Blue Devils as they came off a huge 51-46 win against Lake Zurich the night before. 

They are looking to keep their momentum from the previous game versus Palatine. When asked about what to carry over from the last game, coach Zack Ryan said, “It was kind of us just getting back on track. Even though we shot the ball really poorly, we still figured out a way to win the game by playing good defense and playing hard.” Palatine is also a very good team that the Blue Devils may eventually face in the playoffs. Coach Ryan spoke on Palatine, “We got our work cut out for us. We’re gonna have to defend them. They have a really good player in [Connor] May and a good big guy so we got our work cut out for us. I hope our guys are ready.” Connor May, a senior committed to Washington University in St. Louis, was the threat to Warren headed into the game, and neutralizing him would be a tough task.

The Blue Devils started strong, shooting the ball extremely well in the first quarter. In the first quarter, five of their first seven field goals were three pointers, which led them to a 7-point lead, 19-12 at the end of the quarter. Nothing changed for the Blue Devils in the second quarter as they started to pull away even more with the score at halftime being 33-21. The leading scorer for the Blue Devils was Freshman Jaxson Davis with 8 points. 

In the third quarter, Palatine started to cut into the lead of the Blue Devils, outscoring them by 5 in the quarter, however, the Blue Devils still held a 46-39 lead. But unfortunately, things were taking a turn for the worst and Palatine cut Warren’s lead down late in the fourth quarter; specifically, turnovers and costly mistakes led to the Blue Devils only up by two with 17 seconds left. A timeout was called and later when coach Ryan was asked about what was said in the timeout, he explained, “We gotta finish the game. We’ve had the game won and we gotta take care of the ball and stop turning it over and stop trying to do things you shouldn’t do and get out of here with the win.” The inbound was successful to Jaxson Davis who headed to the line to shoot two free throws to potentially ice the game. He did just that, sinking both as the Blue Devils escaped with the win, with a final score of 57-56.

When center, Alex Daniels, was asked about what it came down to at the end of the game he said it was about, “Trusting in our abilities, trusting our teammates, trusting our coaches, and just executing.”

Davis finished with a team-high of 15 points on the day, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, as well as 4 steals on defense. When asked about why he was so effective, he said, “My key to success was getting my guys going on the offensive end and that gets stuff going for me at the end of the game.”

With the win, the Blue Devils improved to 22-4. Their next game is on the road against Mundelein on Wednesday, January 31st. They also host Waukegan Friday night, both of these games are crucial NSC conference matchups.