The Depaul Prep Rams (10-1, 1-0) landed an invitation to this year’s Pontiac Holiday Tournament, the state’s most prestigious holiday tournament. This might be the final acknowledgement that the DePaul Prep program is now one of the few elite high school basketball programs in the state.
The Rams wasted no time in announcing their arrival as they took on the host Pontiac Township high school Indians in the premiere time slot of the evening in front of a packed home town gym, defeating Pontiac 73-23.
With a modest but typical 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Rams exploded with 33 points in the second period against Pontiac’s four points. The Rams defense just overwhelmed Pontiac by turning numerous Pontiac turnovers into layups.
Pontiac (4-6, 1-0) is in the Illini Prairie Conference. Pontiac Township High School is in 3A, has an enrollment of approximately 650 students and serves Pontiac and three neighboring communities, Odell, Saunemin and Graymont.
Given the lopsided score, DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt reached deep into his bench of 17 players. 13 of the Rams’ 17 players scored in the game.
The Rams advance to play Joliet West at 7:30 p.m. this evening. If you can’t make it down to Pontiac in time, you can catch a live stream, for a fee, on the tournament website, phtonline.live.
