The DePaul Prep Rams (19-12) defeated the Michele Clark Eagles (19-7) 62-42 Wednesday evening in the 2A Christ the King sectional semi-final.
It was so nice to see Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy playing at a high level again. The Rams meshed into the team we hoped we would see when the season started. The injuries to Payton and Jaylan put all that on hold. Until tonight.
Payton had twelve of his twenty-eight points in the first quarter. The Rams really needed that. Getting down in the first quarter hasn’t work out well in recent games. Tom Kleinschmidt teams always play better with a lead. I suppose all teams do. I just mean that I cannot recall the Rams blowing a lead of eight or ten points. And I have seen most of the Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep games since 2013 or so.
Jaylan MeElroy was back too. I had him with eleven points. I don’t know how many rebounds but it was a lot. He was a presence in the lane on defense. Again, I don’t know how many blocks but a good number. A really nice job.
Terry Head’s Clark Eagles are good. Senior Cordy Johnson is a force and not afraid to drive the lane into Jaylan McElroy. The Eagles were taking it to the Rams in first quarter. The Rams were in the bonus not too long into the first quarter. Five of the Rams’ sixteen first quarter points were from free throws. No one is going to out physical the Rams; not with McElroy and Kamin back in the lineup. Such a strategy just sends them to the line. Usually not a good idea.
Ultimately, it was Payton Kamin’s emergence as a dominate scorer that buried the Eagles. Kamin’s twenty-eight on top of the usual production from Reece Thomas, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme worked out well. Sophomore point guard Makai Kvamme’s performance deserves a mention. Although Kvamme didn’t lead the scoring he reliably brought up the ball against the Eagles determined full court pressure. He gets better every game.
Eight fourth quarter free throws from Kamin didn’t really seal the victory; the game was mostly decided by the Rams’ third quarter defense. But Kamin’s free throws just took the life out of the Eagles. And it pushed the Rams lead to twenty points.
The Rams face North Lawndale (15-11) on Friday for the sectional championship. The North Lawndale coaches in attendance got a look at a Rams team they might not have expected to be back at full force. The only common opponent for the Rams and Phoenix is Clark. North Lawndale defeated Clark 61-55 in December.
Nice to be playing one’s best basketball going into the sectional championship.
See you Friday.
