The No. 25 DePaul Prep Rams (3-2, 11-3) travelled down to Roosevelt Road to take on St. Ignatius (3-2, 10-7) in a Chicago Catholic League crossover game. I tweeted earlier in the day that it was too early talk about must-win games but it felt like it this evening in St. Ignatius’ Gentile Gym. CCL teams cannot afford conference losses in pursuit of a championship. Both schools had large and loud student body contingents in attendance.
This was a well-played and well-coached game. Not many fouls. Not many turnovers. Tons of passes. The teams matched up well. They know each other. Precious few surprises. Just tough quality basketball.
As these CCL games usually go, there was not much scoring in the first quarter. It was 9-6 after one quarter. DePaul sophomore guard Payton Kamin had four of his thirteen points in the first quarter to pick up a struggling Rams offense. The tight bucket for bucket matchup continued in the second quarter as the teams traded scores. 18-17 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Wolfpack were able to open a little margin on the strength of inside buckets off the dribble by Senior forward Kolby Gilles.
“Kolby (Gilles) is a really tough matchup for a lot of guys because he has perimeter and post skills. So if he has a smaller guy on him, he is able to post up and score around the rim but if he’s got a bigger guy on him, he is able to stretch the floor, create off the bounce and shoot the three a little bit,” said St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.
The Wolfpack stretched the margin to nine points at one point in the third quarter. But the Rams were not going away. Tom Kleinschmidt and his team are too good and too experienced for that. It was a two-possession game most of the fourth.
With 1:20 left the Rams pulled within three points. Under a minute, it was two points. With 18 seconds the Rams were only down one—42-41. Excellent foul shooting and a key turnover gave the Rams the ball and a chance to win on a final shot. Senior guard Alex Gutierrez took a good shot. It rimmed out.
Final: Wolfpack 42, Rams 41.
After the game, Monroe spoke highly of DePaul Prep.
“I knew that these guys were going to be very well prepared. They run a great system and are very effective in what they do. For us the game was making sure we knew are scout coverages. We were able to navigate all the sets that they run. And that we were able to team guard (Dylan) Arnett because he is really, really effective post player. He is a fantastic player.”
But it is the Wolfpack that are clawing their way back from a disappointing start to the season. After opening the year ranked No. 4 in the Sun-Times Super 25, Monroe’s squad dropped 5 of their first 11 games.
“Five of our losses have been by 2 or 3 points and they have all come down to the final possession of the game. When I was talking to our guys after some of those close losses, we talked about how our struggles were going to be the reason for our success later. I think going through that gauntlet, playing some incredible teams and falling short a few times, has prepared us to be in that situation again.”
Richard Barron and Kolby Gilles each had 15 for the Wolfpack. Payton Kamin led the Rams’ scoring with 13; Dylan Arnett with 11 and Jaylan McElroy with 7.
