DePaul Prep Survives Loyola 43-35

The DePaul Prep Rams (15-1, 3-0) defeated the Loyola Academy Ramblers (15-5, 1-2) 43-35 on Friday evening at Loyola. I have to hand it to Loyola. Tom Livatino had the Rams playing his game. Slow the tempo way down, play very physical and hope to edge teams at the end.

It was working in the first half with the assistance of the referees. I don’t like to criticize referees. They are usually very good. In first half of this game, the referees were let them play. Meaning they weren’t calling any fouls. This hurt the Rams. Their shots were not falling.

The Ramblers were hitting shots at least enough to stay close to the Rams. Loyola’s center Brandon Loftus was impressive in the paint and hitting outside shots.

The second half was different for the Rams. The refs started calling fouls and the Rams were able to score like they usually do.

The Rams gained a lead and were able to build it with some remarkable free throw shooting to seal the victory. Junior Rykan Woo was 8 for 8 in the game and 6 for 6 in the last 1:05 of the game.

The Rams improve to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue and probably retain their #1 ranking.

A little past the midway point of the season 16 games into the 30-game season, the Rams are the No. 1 ranked team in the Sun-Times Super 25. They got that spot after winning their inaugural appearance in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. It was another achievement for the DePaul College Prep basketball team that has now become a “program.”

At the R-B tournament in the summer of 2023, I was talking to Mike Mullin of the Illinois Wolves. He was the first person that I heard use the term “program” in conjunction with DePaul Prep. After just one 2A State Championship, some might argue that the “program” moniker might be a little premature. Not anymore. Since 2019, the DePaul Prep Rams have achieved a third place in 3A, a No. 1 ranking in the 2020, the COVID year, a 2A state championship, victory in Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, a 3A state champion and a Pontiac title. Combine that unprecedented success with the same coach in the program for 10 years, a coach with over 300 career wins, and you are pretty much talking “program.”

That’s all fine but there are games to play. This season has seen the return of proven producers Makai Kvamme, Rob Walls, Rashaun Porter, AJ Chambers and Jonas Johnson. But it’s the emergence of Rykan Woo that have brought the Rams, admittedly a 3A team, to that top tier.

Woo, a transfer from Whitney Young, is averaging 17 points a game. His eye popping 24 points and 6 of 7 three pointers against Warren has him being talked about as the best player in the whole junior class. I first saw him play at the R-B tournament this past summer. But it was at the Ridgewood summer event that he turned heads. A longtime DePaul Prep observer told me that this 24-25 team would be better than the last two state championship teams. We will see about that but the addition of Rykan is making a believer out of me.

The Rams schedule has been rough. At the start of the season, Tom Kleinschmidt told me, “We are going to lose some games this year.”

Not true so far. Only one loss. And then to the No. 1 team at the time, Kenwood. And then only by two points in the last ten seconds of a weekend shootout game. Add in some signature wins over Niles North, Lane, Rich Township, Mater Dei (a California powerhouse program), Curie, Benet and Warren.

I would say the first half went well for the Rams. The bulk of the Chicago Catholic League games will be played in the second half, namely Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle and Fenwick. Who cares about Pontiac and state championship if you don’t win the Chicago Catholic League Blue? We will see about the second half.

Lincoln Park Handles Lane Tech 62-46

[Preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lincoln Park hosted Lane Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday for a key game in the Chicago Public League’s Red Shield conference. Basically, the championship of the Northside. The Lions (15-1, 6-1) handled the Champions winning 62-46.

Some might have thought that with Lincoln Park ranked #11 and having a gaudy win/loss record, it would be all Lions. But Lane Tech has played have played top competition this season. Very top competition: #1 DePaul Prep, #2 Kenwood, #6 Brother Rice, #12 Curie, #13 Niles North—twice, formerly ranked St. Ignatius as well as top out-of-state competition at a Washington DC shootout. And the Champions just knocked off #19 Whitney Young on Tuesday. The Champions are much, much better than their record indicates.

With the size and length that the Champions possess, their ability in recent games to hit three-pointers and playing on Lincoln Park’s small home court, this thing could have gone either way.

It went Lincoln Park’s way, and it started early. The Lions jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead. The Lions were amped up and playing tough inside and out. Hitting shots and grabbing boards on both ends.

“[Our] guys they came in with a lot of fight,” Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson said of his Lions.

“They executed. They were mentally locked in. They played harder. They played tougher. They played technique. They boxed out. They did exactly what I told them to do. I told them the shots what would be open. That’s just all from our execution.”

Lane rallied and made it game. Lane’s Zach Mazanowski quickly added five points late in the first quarter bringing them right back. Even so, the Lions would maintain a six to ten-point lead throughout most of the rest of the game.

The Lions gave no quarter to the size and length possessed by the Champions. Lions’ center Keyshawn Barfield battled the Champions’ division one prospect center Dalton Scantlebury the whole game.

The Lions turned off Lane’s usually productive three-point shooter. The Champions managed only one three-point field goal in the gameThe Lincoln Park gym is a unique place for top-level high school basketball game. It’s small. Very small. Three rows of seats on each side and none along the baselines. The staff at Lincoln Park are careful only to all proper number of people in the gym. It couldn’t be more than a couple hundred. But it was enough to make it load and provide a distinct home court advantage for the Lions with their students and fans quite literally on the edge of the court.

“I think the atmosphere was great. I love it. It was like a north side battle. You’ve got kids on both sides who know each other. It was great. I think the home court advance came to us, our school and wave of kids came out and show pride and support,” Anderson said of his team’s home court advantage.

The Lincoln Park Lions are one of the teams that emerged this year. It’s not like no one expected them to be good. They should signa last season. But the Lions have been a top team Ranked all year. They defeated Whitney Young, St. Laurence and Curie, all ranked teams. They lost to Red Shield rival and perennial powerhouse Simeon by one point in a wild one at Simeon. They lost to suburban powerhouse Warren Township also by just one point.

Of their success this year, Anderson said, “I attribute that to the hard work that these guys put in. We watch film. We work on things. When it comes to certain teams and they see film and they see what a team can't doing and won't do, we feed off that and we attacked that. We attack team’ s weaknesses.”

The Lions are poised to win the Red Shield conference. It could work out that the Lions will play #2 ranked Kenwood who is undefeated in the conference for the championship. The Lions have one loss in the conference, but if they win the rest of their conference games and defeat Kenwood in the regular season penultimate game, they would be Red Shield champs.

Just saying. Still almost half the season to play.

DePaul Prep Handles Loyola 40-18

The DePaul Prep Rams are for real. They just keep passing test after test. The #9 ranked Rams (10-0, 2-0) defeated the #25 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers (8-3, 1-2) 40-18 at DePaul Prep on Friday.

If defense is Loyola’s calling card, DePaul Prep handed it right back to them Friday night at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym, and then some. The Ramblers has only managed to score nine points against the Rams until well into the fourth quarter. That’s not a typical high school even for the notoriously low scoring Catholic League games. The Ramblers managed to double that output in garbage time finishing with 18 points.

The Rams had struggled against the ‘Blers in recent years dropping four out of the last five games they have played with scores typically in the thirties and forties. Last year’s score was the lowest of the last five with a 39-36 Loyola win.

DePaul Prep’s man-to-man defense denied open shots to the Ramblers. Rams’ guards PJ Chambers, Makai Kvamme, Rob Walls and AJ Chambers were defending everything. The shots the Ramblers did manage to get up, didn’t fall. Rams forward Jaylan McElroy, Jonas Johnson and Rashawn Porter battle on the boards preventing easy second shots for the Ramblers.   

Junior forward Jonas Johnson led the scoring for the Rams with ten points including to three-pointers that lifted the Rams late in the first quarter. Senior guard PJ Chambers had nine points despite missing significant minutes because of some early foul trouble. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy finished with eight points.

The Chicago Catholic League Blue is largely regarded as the best conference in the state this year. Six of its nine teams have been ranked this year: # 4 Mount Carmel, #5 Brother Rice, #9 DePaul Prep, #13 DeLaSalle, #25 Loyola and formerly ranked St. Ignatius. The win over Loyola lifted the Rams to 2-0 in the conference. Mount Carmel and Brother Rice also remain undefeated in conference play with Friday night wins over St. Ignatius and DeLaSalle respectively.

“Lane was ranked in the pre-season. Lane tested us. Niles North tested us. Those teams are good. We haven’t been Catholic League tested. Loyola was on the road at Br. Rice. They were [tested] and we weren’t. I was nervous about that,” Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. His Rams passed the test handling the Ramblers like they haven’t in recent years.

Of his defense, Kleinschmidt said, “I think we switched up on them. We took them out of their first and second options. We stayed home on some shooters. The ball was not falling for them. We had a little bit to do with that. There we some shots that they would make on other teams.”

Loyola’s coach Tom Livatino is as good as it gets and dialed up the defense at the start of the second quarter going to his high-pressure trapping one-three-one defense.

“We had some unforced turnovers that we were not real happy with but the way we were guarding we forgave that a little bit,” Kleinschmidt continued. “We practiced the one-three-one. We have seen it on film and we were prepared for it.”

Coach Kleinschmidt was all business after the game with little time to celebrate a dominant Catholic League victory. That might have something to do with the fact that the Rams will face #6 ranked Bloom Township (5-2) on Sunday.

“They are big and strong. We haven’t watched them. We put all of our eggs in the Loyola basket. We will watch it tonight and tomorrow morning and then we will have practice. It’s the last game before [Christmas] break. We will go play our ass off and give it shot,” Kleinschmidt said of Bloom.