It seems like yesterday and also like a lifetime ago that Tom Klienschmidt and Lou Adams had their teams battling each other in 2A sectional finals and semi-finals. Now Lou has a trio of state championships. Tom has two. This time they face off early in the season at the Team Rose Shootout at Mount Carmel. The tables are turned a little. Tom Kleinschmidt’s back-to-back state champions are ranked third. Lou Adams’ new team, Rich Township (instead of Orr) is ranked #13, with loads of talent but struggling to find itself.
The DePaul Prep Rams (8-1, 1-0) jumped out to an early first quarter 12-3 lead on the Rich Township Raptors (2-3, 1-0) and off they went. It’s really hard to put together a come back win against DePaul Prep, especially when your team is not shooting well.
Rich missed a ton of inside shots in the first quarter under relentless pressure from Rashaun Porter and the other Rams defenders scoring only eight points in the first quarter.
Rob Walls took the early lead to another level with back-to-back threes early in the second quarter pushing a seven point lead to to thirteen point lead. The Rams never looked back.
Huge game for Rykan Woo with 20 points inside, outside and at the line. One cannot overstate in impact and importance of the transfer to this year’s Rams squad.
Notwithstanding the big shots by Rob Walls and Rykan Woo, it was the point guard Makai Kvamme that powered the Rams through with his toughness, leadership and just plain cool head. He faced constant pressure on the ball by the tough Raptors defense it didn’t seem like he even noticed. He just did what he wanted to do, pressure or no pressure.
It was my first chance to see Rich’s key player Al Brooks. Brooks is something indeed. He had 21 points but couldn’t keep the Raptors close by himself. DePaul’s Rashaun Porter was more than a match for him on the offensive and defensive boards.
Put another victory over a top team in the column for the Rams. They just play their game and keep rolling through the season. Providence-St. Mel and Oswego East are later in the week for the Rams.
