The following are posts related to specific shoots. And other things that I cannot stop myself from writing about.
The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Evanston Wildkits 51-36 to win the Chipotle Clash of Champions. Michael O’Brien and the Chicago Sun-Times has the Rams ranked #1—the best high school basketball in Northern Illinois.
I will do a story about the game for Inside Publications and publish it here as well later in the week.
I hope you like the photos. Not my best work but never enjoyed a game more.
In the second game of the Evanston v. Vernon Hills season opener, the Wildkits womens’ team opened their season against Vernon Hills 49-27.
Game recap to follow in the weekly column in Inside Publications—insideonline.com.
Here are my pictures from the game. I hope you like them.
The Evanston Township High School Wildkits defeated the Vernon Hills Cougars in Evanston Saturday afternoon 81-60.
More about the game in my weekly column in the Inside Publications—insideonline.com.
My thanks to the nice people at ETHS, Athletic Director Chris Livatino, in particular. Very well done and safe operation in this COVID season.
Here are my pictures from the game. I hope you like them. Photos from the girls game to follow shortly.
I have photographed four basketball games in the last three days and been glad to do it. Thursday was Prospect at Notre Dame. Last night was Maine South at Loyola. Today was Vernon Hills boy at Evanston, then Vernon Hills girls at Evanston.
It look a little getting used to again. Not exactly riding a bike; more like hitting a golf ball. It took a few swings to get back in the groove.
Thursday and Friday were challenging. I had to shoot from the balconies above the court. But not today for the two games at Evanston, I was on the court at it’s wonderful Beardsley Gym. The light in there if very good. As we all know, the light in the gym is the important part of basketball. It was just fun to be back on the floor. The pictures were better because of it.
It was a challenge last night at Loyola to shoot from the balcony well off the floor. I got some good shoots but for that type of shooting I need better equipment. It would have been right up Brian O’Mahoney’s alley. He is very good at doing it this way and gets razor sharp tight images from above. I don’t have the right equipment to make the most of that style.
More about the games themselves in my weekly column in the Inside Publications. Pick up the print version or subscribe at insideonline.com.
Here are the pictures from the Loyola v. Maine South game. Hope you like them. The photos from the Evanston v. Vernon Hills games will follow shortly.
It was a busy weekend of basketball. Whitney Young v. Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep v. Providence on Friday night. Then the Team Rose Shootout on Saturday and Sunday.
I love the Team Rose Shootout. It has a real gym-rat feel. The Chicago Elite Classic is fancy. Wintrust has fabulous light. But for pure basketball pleasure, the Team Rose Shootout is it. So many knowledgeable people to talk to. So many good players and good teams. Had some blowouts but all well played games.
Of the 900 games (14 actually), I got to see six. I really wanted to see Bloom and Orr, neither of whom I had not seen yet this year. Bloom is something—big and athletic. Well deserving of their #1 status. Orr looked really good. Evanston was just too good for the Spartans. The Wildkits handled Orr’s pressure. Not many others could. Orr will be there for the CPS championships.
I got to see Leo in advance of the Friday’s Chicago Catholic League game against DePaul Prep. And St. Laurence too. I like to see as many Chicago Catholic League teams as I can. I still haven’t seen Fenwick. It will be strange to see St. Joe’s without Gene Pingatore.
Notre Dame amazed me with a huge win over an extremely talented Bogan Begals squad. I still don’t know how they did that. Troy D’Amico played two positions at once. He was bringing the ball over the time line and then passing it to himself under the basket to score.
Okay, I know everybody contributed—Louis Lesmond, Jason Bergstrom, Jimmy Murphy, Frank Lynch and Mac Ross all made it happen without Anthony Sayles.
And the inspired coaching from Kevin Clancy and Shay Boyle. They had the Dons ready and did not fold under the intense pressure from Bogan. It was an interesting move to put D’Amico at point guard after the rash of turnovers. And the murderer’s row schedule too. As a St. Viator grad, I am not one to say nice things about the Notre Dame Dons if I can help it. But I have to take my St. Viator baseball cap off to them. It was very gutsy to put this schedule together and even more impressive to go out and back it up with high quality wins.
I couldn’t speed a lot of time there on Saturday so I missed OPRF and Stevenson. I will get to see Stevenson at the Hinsdale Holiday Classic coming up.
Michael O’Brien wrote in the paper today (or maybe it was Twitter) that the season is one quarter over. It seems like it just started to me. It has been very enjoyable so far.
Well, on to the Christmas tournaments.
Photos from:
Tinley Park v. Schaumburg
Bloom v. St. Laurence
Leo v. Kenwood
Notre Dame v. Bogan
Orr v. Evanston
The #9 Evanston Wildkits (5-0) came into Friday night’s game at the 2019 Chicago Elite Classic against the #7 Notre Dame Dons (5-1) ready. The Wildkits have been in big games against good teams before. But this time, they were a little pissed off.
It was not a hot anger. The simmered. It seems like a Mike Ellis kind of anger—quiet, determined, deadly. They never jumped out to a big lead; they just held the Dons at bay throughout the game eventually winning 62-53. The Wildkits scored on their first possession and trailed by one for all of 24 seconds early in the first quarter. After that, it was a methodical take down.
Interestingly, the Wildkits slowed the tempo and showed patience moving the ball around the floor. I guess I was expecting the Kits to run against the bigger Dons. Maybe they wanted to but ND is too good to give up a ton of points in transition. The Wildkits only scored eight fast break points.
Evanston coach Mike Ellis had his team ready. “I thought these guys were so steady,” said Ellis after the game. “Notre Dame never went on a run.”
But it was not as if the Notre Dame Dons were not ready. The Dons are a very talented team with any obvious weakness. The starting line-up of Louis Lesmond, Anthony Sayles, Troy D’Amico, Jason Bergstrom and Jimmy Murphy and Frank Lynch off the bench leaves little to be desired. The Dons are a clear contender for a state championship in 3A. Notre Dame third year head coach Kevin Clancy has taken the Dons to another level. (Interestingly, the Dons face great competition in the East Suburban Catholic League, but that’s a subject for another day.)
It just seemed that when the Dons would score, Evanston would answer.
There might have been a little more too it.
“That one was the first game I marked on the schedule,” said Evanston junior forward Blake Peters. “We haven’t gotten the press like other teams.”
The much-reported transfer of the French-born Notre Dame junior forward Louis Lesmond from Evanston to Notre Dame over the summer was definitely on the minds of the all concerned. I have to think that this served as part of the motivation for the Wildkits. After the game, Blake Peters downplayed his familiarity with Lesmond and his game, but it seemed quiet evident to me. Despite Lesmond leading the Dons with 15 points, Louis never took over the game like he did against DePaul Prep in the Battle of the Bridge championship game a week earlier.
“They played harder than us,” said ND’s Anthony Sayles. “We weren’t as conditioned as them.” I am not buying it. Anthony Sayles was a little too hard on himself and his team after the game. I didn’t see signs of a lack of effort or signs of fatigue.
The Evanston shots fell. The Kits were determined and ready. ND played sound defense with tons of effort. Nevertheless, after a good defensive stand by ND, the Wildkits shots fell.
I am really looking forward to seeing more of these teams.
As for the photos, what can I say? The Wintrust Arena has the best light of any high school venue in the City—period. The best.
Frankly, I was not as focused on maximizing the light as much as I was on composing the pictures and telling a good story with the photos. It was pretty standard settings but I was able to drop the ISO pretty low because of the amount and quality of the white light.
I hope you like the photos.
Time to get back into basketball. The June 21-23, 17th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout field and schedule have been announced. The field is packed with top teams including a Chicago area appearance by two-time 4A state champ Belleville West.
The 64-team tournament includes: Belleville West; 4A runner-up Evanston; 4A third place Curie; 3A state champ East St. Louis; 3A runner-up Bogan; 3A third place DePaul Prep; 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel; 4A sectional champs Stevenson, Bolingbrook and Simeon, 3A Regional champs St. Viator; 2A regional champ Uplift.
A couple of first round games should prove interesting. The DePaul Prep Rams, (CCL Blue champs and 3A third-place), take on Belleville West, 4A state champ the last two-years, late Friday at 8:45 p.m. The Rams recently murderous schedule adds a doozy. The Rams graduated three starters among the best in school history, Perry Cowen, Raheem Anthony and Pavle Pantovic. This game should prove quite a challenge for the Rams even though the Maroons will not have two time player of the year and Ohio State recruit E. J. Liddell. We should get a good preview of the Rams new look with the talented group of sophomores as well as juniors D.J. Shower and Brian Mathews.
Another interesting first round game is ESCC 2019 champ Marian Catholic against rival St. Viator, Saturday at 12:35 p.m. Pool M is curiously packed with Marian Catholic, St. Viator, defending 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel as well as Northern IL-Big 12 East conference champ DeKalb.
The Chicago Catholic League is well represented with 10 of its 16 teams in attendance. Conspicuous in its absence is CCL White Division champs St. Rita. Perhaps this has something to do with the recent dismissal of this coach Gary DeCesare.
The Chicago Public League also has top teams in attendance (in no particular order): Curie, Bogan, Simeon, Whitney Young, Uplift and Lincoln Park.
Frequent viewers of this channel know that I tend to concentrate on Chicago Catholic League and CPS games. I am looking to branch out some this year and take in more suburban games. I definitely have to see Max Christie at Rolling Meadows. The Mustangs take on Curie on Friday at 6:55 in R-B’s main gym.
I am also looking forward to seeing Notre Dame’s talented young team with juniors Anthony Sayles and Troy D’Amico. Marian Catholic better watch out for Notre Dame this season. The Dons are going to be good.
The thing about these preseason games is that they are not really like an in-season matchup. The games are quick, the lineups are fluid and don’t reflect the probable in-season starting line-up. There isn’t a whole lot of defense played. I wish I was a more seasoned analyst to tell one exactly what to look for. But I am neither a sportswriter nor a basketball expert. I am photographer and a fan.
As for the photography of this event, it doesn’t lend itself to great picture taking opportunities. Many of the games are in a field house and small gyms without the best light. I am also not as prepared as usual on which players to watch. I am not there to take photos as much as gain intelligence on the best teams to photograph in the upcoming season.
Nevertheless, I am jazzed about the start of the pre-season, at least for me. Hope to see you there—June 21-23 at Riverside-Brookfield High School. I see what I can do about getting some stories and photos up in IL Preps Insider as well.
It didn’t seem that close. The Evanston Township High School Wildkits (31-4) came out firing on all cylinders against the Rockford East E-RABs. The Kits opened up a 25-15 first quarter lead and never looked back. Well, except they actually did in the third quarter when the E-RABS out scored them 29-20.
The game never seemed in doubt despite a valiant charge by Rockford East. Evanston’s Sr. forward Blake Peters went seven for eight shooting threes. That’s just spectacular. He lead all scorers with 27 points.
Be careful what you wish for. The Wildkits will face Belleville West who destroyed a 34-1 Curie team, 70-48, The Condors just came off an impressive comeback victory of Simeon and looked to be unstoppable. Belleville West’s two big men, E.J. Liddell and Keith Randolph dominated the paint and got Curie into foul trouble.
It should be a fascinating championship game of teams with contrasting styles. Evanston is quick, athletic and great shooters. Belleville West is big, athletic and good shooters. My money is on Evanston, but I thought Curie would win so what do I know,
Stay tuned.
The second Evanston v. New Trier matchup of the last night (Jan. 11, 2019) at Evanston was even better than the first as the Trevian girls topped the Wildkits 46-45. With time running out, New Trier point guard Tinah Hong drove the baseline drawing a foul. Just a cool as can be, with the game on the line, she stepped up to the line and drained the tying bucket—nothing but net. Then, after an Evanston time out, Tinah again stepped up to the line and drained the game winner—nothing but net. Evanston had a few seconds but couldn’t get up a shot to win.
I got some good shots of this game. Some of the photos are a little too grainy but they are pretty well lit. I hope you like them.
Great game. Wildkits held off a late charge by the Trevians and came away with a convincing 54-46 victory. My third time seeing Evanston this year. Each time they have come out victorious in tight games over quality opponents—St. Viator, Uplift and now New Trier. I love the Evanston gym. It has such a stadium quality—and video scoreboards. My favorite gym in the area, well at least today.
As for the photos, it was not my finest work. I got to the game a little late so I was a little rushed. I hope you like the photos.
I photographed the Chicago Elite Classic for Illinois Preps Insider last Saturday (Dec. 1, 2018) at the Wintrust Area. It was my first time there. I loved it. Great light. I could not stay all day. I only saw the first three games. I was most interested in the Uplift v. Evanston game. Both teams impressed me. Got some good photos. Hope you like them.
Evanston played Lane Tech last Thursday (May 31, 2018) at Loyola's Munz athletic fields campus. It was a great game. Evanston jumped out to a two run lead. Lane rebounded with seven runs a couple innings later. Then Evanston put up seven runs of its own an inning later and took a 9 - 7 lead. The Indians were unable to make up the difference. Evanston won 9-7 and advanced to play Loyola on Saturday.
The photos were high shutter speed and high ISO. The Loyola announcer was gracious enough to let me shoot photos from the mobile press box which helped me get some great shots.
