In the opening game of the 2021 Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament, the DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Lake View Wildcats 76-18 at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym on Monday (Nov. 22, 2021) evening.
Opening what feels like a relatively return to normal, the Rams fielded five new starters after their number one ranked finish of the COVID season last spring. Gone were TY Johnson, Rashed Bello, Brian Matthews, Cam Lewis and Jabari Sawyer, not to mention coach Kenny Gryzwa.
That’s not to say we haven’t seen the new starters already. Dylan Arnett, Trevon Thomas, Julian Green and Alex Gutierez all played plenty last year. Plus Payton Kamin and Jaylon McElroy impressed at the R-B Tournament in June. The Rams came into the game #14 in the Sun-Times Super 25, so it’s not like no one had any idea what to expect.
But I was still wondering what we would get. How would they play together? Would the shots fall? Would the punishing trapping defense be there? (TY Johnson and Rashed Bello were beasts on defense.)
What we got was typical opening quarter domination by a Tom Kleinschmidt team. It was 23-7 at the end of the first.
In the second quarter Coach Kleinschimdt put in the second line. This is what impressed me. This is what I didn’t know about. When the new line came in, they dialed up the defense. Jaylon McElroy, Maurice Thomas, PJ Chambers and Ijeg Nwaezapu played defense like their lives depended on it. And scored too.
Something of a signature moment occurred late in the fourth. Granted the game was out-of-hand with the clock running; the Wildcats were struggling. But Junior forward Dane Barkley came to the line. He sunk his first free throw. He put up his second shot; the Lake View players seemed to defer to each other on the rebound. Barkley charged down the lane and grabbed the rebound under the basket. Just pure hustle. He wanted the ball. His head was in the game. It showed me something.
It's gonna be a fun season. And the Rams are in 2A this year. Just saying.
