Only March can beat this

Brandon Paul stood in Warren's locker room at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament on Friday, dripping with sweat and grinning from ear to ear.

''Yeah, I know that was special,'' Paul said.

Paul, a 6-2 junior, gained national notoriety over the summer for his play on the club basketball circuit. It earned him a spot in the national Class of 2009 rankings and a scholarship to Illinois.

But this was different.

In a packed gym in a small central Illinois town, Paul battled one of the best seniors in the country, Oak Park guard Iman Shumpert, and fought for 40 minutes against a defense designed only to stop him.

The result: 36 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, three steals and a double-overtime victory.

Shumpert and Paul guarded one another, treating the crowd to numerous thrills as they blocked each other's shots, stripped the ball from each other and drained threes while tightly guarded.

''He was so hard to get open against,'' Paul said. ''It was so intense and physical I wasn't really thinking. I just kept going as hard as I could.''

Shumpert was spectacular as well, finishing with 34 points and nine rebounds.

''Brandon was exhausted for most of the game,'' Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. ''But he never let up. None of our guys did.''

That's why holiday tournaments are special. Maybe it's the amount of games packed into one week or the way teams are forced to spend nights together in hotels all over the state, but almost every coach will tell you that the holidays are when teams find themselves.

''[Pontiac] is where we always figure it out,'' Simeon coach Robert Smith said. ''It's very important to get out of Chicago.''

The Wolverines continued their domination of the 77-year-old Pontiac Holiday Tournament, becoming the fourth team to retire the championship trophy, an honor given only after three consecutive titles. The others were Centralia in 1941, Quincy in 1980 and Peoria Manual in 1987.

''Simeon is a very special school,'' Pontiac Tournament director Jim Drengwitz said. ''Last year they were a national powerhouse, good enough to play at any tournament in the country. I kept waiting for the phone call that they weren't going to come here. It never came.''

Closer to home, the Proviso West Tournament carried on with its signature glitz and glamor.

According to Roy Schmidt of Illinois Prep Bulls-Eye, no player proved more at Proviso West than Glenbrook North sophomore Alex Dragicevich.

He scored 15 points against St.Patrick, 14 against Young and 25 against St. Joseph.

''He played very well throughout the tournament,'' Schmidt said. ''In my mind he is clearly one of the top 10 sophomores in the state.''

Just after Morton's victory over St. Joseph in the fifth-place game at Proviso West, a man in his 80s came out of the stands to embrace Mustangs' coach Tony Martinucci.

''I'm sorry that in all the commotion I didn't get his name,'' Martinucci said. ''He said he played on Morton's 1945 team that won a world championship. There is a banner at our school. [The team also qualified for the Sweet 16 that year]. He said that he was following us on the Internet and he drove down from Wisconsin for the game.''

Things were very physical at Proviso West. A number of prominent players suffered injuries.

De La Salle's freshman center, Michael Shaw, did not play in the State Farm title game in Bloomington, because he rolled an ankle during warmups.

New Trier played without James Clark in the third-place game against Marshall. He said he lost the feeling in his arm after he got tangled up with Young's Marcus Jordan in the semifinals.

Marshall guard Ardarrius Simmons tried to play, but had a noticeable limp in the third-place game.

Jordan went down hard and appeared to hurt his hip or back in the second quarter of the title game at Proviso West. He warmed up before the second half, but did not play.

Simmons and Jordan don't have much time to recover, as Marshall and Young both play in the Public League Holiday Tournament on Wednesday at Loyola.

Paul wasn't the only player that firmly established his reputation over the holidays.

Rich South sophomore Crandall Head, the brother of former Illinois star and current Houston Rocket Luther Head, showcased his skills at the Big Dipper Tournament.

Illinois coach Bruce Weber was one of a long line of college coaches on hand in Richton Park to watch Head. Rumors continue to swirl that Head will make a commitment to Illinois sometime next month.

After a grueling December, Hales Franciscan looked like the team everyone expected in the preseason. Guard DJ Cooper and Matt Humphrey were electric. Hales handled Lincoln Park in the second half of a fantastic semifinal and then smashed a very talented and deep Bloom team to win the title.

Special attention should be given to Batavia, which won the Elgin Tournament without star forward Nick Fruendt, who is out with mononucleosis.

Junior David Bryant stepped up and led the Bulldogs, hitting game-winning shots against Wheaton North and Elgin.

''It was really cool being on the bench,'' Fruendt said. ''It was fun to watch.''

Contributing: Steve Tucker, Alex Hickey