Rams Win 3A State Championship

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Defense and free throws win games and state championships. The DePaul Prep Rams (35-2) defeated the Mount Carmel Caravan (32-6) to win IHSA 3A state championship. It’s DePaul’s second straight state championship who are believed to be the first time to win consecutive championship is two different classes, 2A and 3A.

The DePaul Prep’s second straight state championship is just the another in a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year and a third-place finish in 3A in 2019. The Rams are the winningest team in playoff finishes in the last five years.

The Rams and Caravan know each other well. They battled in February for the championship of the Chicago Catholic League, widely regarding as the top conference in the state this year. The first meeting had the feel of a heavy weight prize fight, or at least a Catholic League football game. The Rams prevailed 41-38 but the Caravan’s Lee Marks was out having broken his elbow in the game against Leo a week before. Marks adds so much to Mount Carmel as he proved in the semi-final against Mt. Zion.

No matter. The Rams opened the game in their usual fashion. DePaul Prep’s junior point guard Makai Kvamme, leading scorer for the Rams with 18 points, opened the scoring with a three pointer and then a layup off a turnover. The Rams added ten more and lead 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.

It’s best not to get behind DePaul Prep. Few teams are better at handling the ball and controlling the tempo. Maybe so but the Caravan has senior forward and Northwestern commit Angelo Ciaravino (24 points) is no ordinary player. Led by Ciaravino, the Caravan charged back in the third quarter.

The refs called the game much tighter than the refs did in the first matchup between the teams. Shortly into the third, DePaul Prep was called for three fouls in the space of four seconds off the game clock.

DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt agreed the refs were calling the game tighter than he expected in a championship.

“I kind of lost my composure a little [with the refs]. That was my fault,” Kleinschmidt said.  

The Caravan cut the Rams lead to six points at the end of the third quarter and ramped up the defensive pressure in the fourth frame.

Championship experience and hours of free throw practice paid dividends for the Rams. Senior and All Area guard PJ Chambers was calm as could be. With the score 37-34, Chambers stepped up the line and dropped two free throws with a 1:44 to go. And then two more at 1:20. And then two more at 1:05.

It was Makai Kvamme’s turn at the line 50 seconds left. Two more free throws made. A layup by sophomore guard Rob Walls added two more points. Two more free throws at the end for Kvamme made it a 49-41 final. And a state championship, again.

“I don’t even have words. I am very excited. It’s amazing. It’s a pleasure to be part of this DePaul Prep program and to win so much,” said Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme.

As to the free throws, Kvamme said, “I don’t think about it anymore. I am pretty confident. After the Normal game [where he missed two free throws with no time on the clock that could have sone it for the Rams], we worked on them every day because I missed those two free throws. I was upset obviously after the game. I just kept working,” Kvamme said.

Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves downplayed the tight calls. “I don’t know what the foul totals were. We did come out a little bit more aggressive [in the second half]. We knew that we had to play a little bit more up tempo. We were able to force some turnovers and get some quick buckets. That is where you saw the twelve-point lead cut to three,” Segroves said.

“We had the right scout on the wrong night. We had a great scout for DePaul Prep based on what we had seen and us playing them earlier in the year. Their guys did some stuff that we were not expecting. Their guys hit some big shots early. All the credit to Coach Kleinschmidt and DePaul Prep.”

It was a phenomenal season for the Rams. They won the Chicago Catholic League. It was the winningest season in school history, 35-2. Their only two losses were to the two teams that played for the 4A state championship Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community. They did it without starter junior guard Rob Walls for much of the season and junior forward and anticipated starter Jonas Johnson for most of the season.

They did it starting two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The sixth man was also a sophomore. They did without a lot of fanfare. They did it in a workmanlike fashion. They enjoyed themselves. And so did we.

DePaul Prep Beats Richwoods 52-41 and Will Face Mount Carmel in State Championship

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams just keep winning. They defeated the red-hot Richwoods Knights 52-41 on Friday afternoon in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. They have not lost since the When Sides Collide shootout on January 20th.

DePaul Prep (34-2) advances to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A state championship game. For the second year in a row, the Rams will play in a state championship game. This time in 3A having moved up from 2A. It will be a rematch of the February 12th heavy weight prize fight for the Chicago Catholic League championship which the Rams won 41-38.

But let's not skip right past tonight's historic win. Richwoods' last three games were wins against Kankakee (27-5), Metamora (30-5) and Thornton (29-5) with a collective record of 86-15. The Knights are ranked first in the state by MaxPreps.com.

Oh, and Richwoods has Lathan Summerville who just might be the best player in the state. A giant 6-10 senior center, committed to Rutgers, that dominates the paint, can run the floor and shoot three-pointers.

Once again it was stellar defense and this time plenty of offense that drove the Rams to victory.  One cannot overstate the performance of the Rams’ defense and particularly, the work of sophomore forward Rashaun Porter. A truly remarkable effort by Porter against a top player on the biggest stage. The Rams held Summerville to 3 rebounds.

“I was prepared for it. Working on it everyday. It was hard at the start. But once you get into the game and then it’s just easy on defense,” Porter said of defending Summerville.

It was a total team defensive effort. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy and Porter bracketed Summerville. Rob Walls, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme turned off the outside shooting of Richwoods.

“[Summerville] is a very good player overall. He is really big,” said McElroy. “Our game plan was to surround him when he put the ball on the floor. We executed pretty well.”

“We wanted [Summerville] running into Shaun or running into Jaylan. So if we sandwiched him with two bigs and they skipped, you had Jaylan [McElroy] fronting with Shaun [Porter] on the backside. If they skipped the other way, you had Shaun on the front and Jaylan on the backside. So he was always running into size,” said DePaul Prep head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt. 

The Rams were up to taking away Summerville. He finished with 18 points but only three rebounds. It was the defense against the rest of the team that cemented the victory. The only other Richwoods player in double figures was DaQuan Little with ten points.

“We stayed home on [Little]. He is shooting 44% from three. He shoots the hell out of the ball so we tried to stay home on him. [Tavie Smith] can make a shot. [Marion Herron] can make a shot. When you play a player like Summerville, you have to give something up. That’s what we were willing to give up.” They gave very little.

The defense was only half, and maybe not the most important half, of tonight’s performance by the Rams.

The Rams' offensive engine of Makai Kvamme (15 points), PJ Chambers (15 points) and Rob Walls (7 points) outscored the Knights in every quarter. Jaylan McElroy added four points and five rebounds.

Kavamme had some impressive buckets high off the glass and over Summerville. “I work on those shots a lot. I train with my dad. I know [Summerville] would be big. I knew I had to get it high on the glass in order to get a bucket,” said Rams junior guard Makai Kvamme.

The Rams outscored Richwoods in each of the quarters. The Knights rallied late in the third quarter and cut the Rams’ lead to two points at 28-26 but that was as close as they would get. Jaylan McElroy’s four points on two put-back buckets lifted the Rams.

The fourth quarter would feature Makai Kvamme with free throws, PJ Chambers with a steals and layups and Rob Walls with a layup and free throw. AJ Chambers added a free throw at the end for good measure.

DePaul Prep is taking its place as a premiere high school on the Northside, particularly when it comes to basketball. A state championship, a number one ranking in the COVID year with no playoffs, and two state third place finishes in the last six tries.

The move to 3A hasn’t been much a hurtle for the Rams. “A lot of guys talk about 2A. 2A is great. We don’t play a 2A schedule. The only time we play 2A teams is in our conference. There is probably three or four coaches down there that say we play in the best conference. This year we feel we do. We have been 3A before. This is our second time down here in 3A. We were 3A in 2019. Bogan beat us up,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Rams move on to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A State Championship game. Mount Carmel defeated Mt. Zion from far Southern Illinois 65-49. The Caravan saw the return of senior forward Lee Marks who has been out with a fractured elbow since February 6th.

“Marks is a difference maker. He is good. They are good. We know those guys. We know the coaches. We know what they are going to do and they know what we are going to do. It’s going to be fun. I am glad we are playing a Catholic League team,” said Kleinschmidt.

Rams senior PJ Chambers received both All City and All Area first team honors. “I am blessed. I was very surprised. I am very thankful to be awarded these type of accolades,” said senior guard/forward PJ Chambers. “Whoever we play tomorrow, we are going to battle it out and hopefully we win.”

“We play a lot of good teams on our schedule. We will face the adversity and overcome it.”

Back to the State Finals for DePaul Prep with 51-31 Win over Crystal Lake South

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams’ third quarter adjustments to the Crystal Lake South Gators high pressure 1-3-1 defense opened a lead for the Rams and propelled them to Champaign, again. They booked their 33rd win against two losses with the 51-31 win over the Crystal Lake Gators (31-5) in the IHSA 3A Super-sectional playoff at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates Monday evening and a berth in this weekend’s IHSA State basketball championship tournament.

The Rams will need another great plan and the same flexibility when they on Peoria Richwoods in Friday’s IHSA 3A state semi-final.

Rams senior guard/forward PJ Chambers lead the Rams with 18 points but, as usual, it was the Rams’ defense and third quarter offensive adjustments that lifted DePaul Prep, the way actual rams might navigate through a pack of gators.

“[Crystal Lake’s] defense is a nightmare. We struggled in the first half. You saw it. They got a million deflections. They have length. They are good at it. They do [the 1-3-1] a little differently where they it push up. Once you get across half court, they are coming for you,” said Rams’ head coach and former Gordon Tech and DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

“Their length really bothered us. We took too many jumpers in the first half. We needed to drive the ball and get some gaps. They made it tough on us.”

Gator’s junior point guard AJ Demirov clearly was the stray that was also the drink for the Gators.

“We wanted to make sure that [Demirov] saw a player and a half. We tried to keep him away from the basket as best we could,” Kleinschidt said.

The Gators’ offence consisted of Demirov, 10 points, and small contributions each of the rest of the starting lineup. The problem was that Demirov was taking the bulk of the shots for Crystal Lake South and had only four field goals (of which only one was a three) and one free throw.  

“We wanted to meet him at the elbow or the [free throw line] so he couldn’t get into the paint and had to take tougher shots. We didn’t do a great job in the first half but okay. In the second half, we did a much better job of showing him a man and a half or two men,” Kleinschmidt continued.

The first half was pretty even except for the end. With the clock ticking down to the half, Demirov drove the lane for an underhanded layup and the foul with 3.2 to play. He added the free throw to bring the Gators within seven.

Not to be outdone, Rams’ clutch, silky smooth junior point guard Makai Kvamme took the inbound pass down the length of the court and banked in a three off the glass.

“What a momentum builder to walk into the locker room,” Kleinshmidt said of Kvamme’s buzzer beater.

“It looked good but I was like, ‘this ain’t gonna happen.’ It caught glass and went in—a huge momentum builder going up ten into the locker room with the ball coming out in the third.”

In the second half, “we put three guards in a triangle. We wanted to reverse a couple times. The more times the ball goes side-to-side the gaps will get open. We got it to the middle to [PJ Chambers] or his brother [sophomore guard AJ Chambers] and we either got straight line drives or dump offs. Shaun had two dunks with dump offs,” Kleinschmidt said.

“You can watch all the film you want. Until you take the court and see it, the physicality, the athleticism, how they rally to the ball. It’s tough to prepare for,” said Crystal Lake head coach Matt LaPage said of DePaul Prep’s defense.

“In the third quarter, they came at us not only offensively but defensively—just stifling. It’s a special defense. It’s as good as advertised. That’s for sure.”

Of the defensive effort, DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers said, “What we did really well was contain [Demirov]. That was the game plan. If we could take him out of the equation, it was very possible for us to win,” said PJ Chambers.

“We’ve got our defensive stoppers. We’ve got Jay, Rob, Makai, AJ, even me at times. All of us play our roles really well. It came down to guarding #4 [Demirov], especially Rob, Kai and Jay at times, they excelled greatly.”

If Demirov was the main ingredient in the drink for Crystal Lake South, Chambers was DePaul’s secret sauce on offense for DePaul Prep. Eighteen points including an early three that got him going.

“Right. That’s how I play. If I am hot early in the game, then I keep shooting. If it starts to die down, I know I have to switch my game up,” Chambers said.

It wasn’t all Chambers by any means. It was a total team victory. Senior center Jaylan McElroy finished with nine points including two steals with layups finishes late in the game. Junior guard Rob Walls had nine points and eight rebounds. Kvamme had eight points with the big three to close the first half. Sophomore forward Rashaun Porter had five. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal.

Of his historic defense, Kleinschmidt offered this: “Our strength is our defense and it’s because we can switch 1 to 5. They can all guard somebody for a little while. Even our guards can front the post long enough so help can get there on the back side. And our bigs can move their feet well enough until the help comes. That is the strength of our team that we can switch one through five and everybody can guard.”

More than just the switching, the Rams had a plan for Demirov and his sharp-shooting mates.

“We know they’ve got shooters all over. We didn’t want to leave corners [in order to cover Demirov]. They are a great shooting team. So we wanted to help with the big instead of the guards in the corner. If I help off the corner, [Demirov] is going to drive [and] kick. We took away one of his options. We wanted to see them make tough twos instead of threes,” said Kleinschmidt.

This has been an historic season for the DePaul Prep Rams. 33-2 is most wins in school history. The Rams only losses this year are to two teams, Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community, who are both still alive in the 4A final four.

The Rams have put together quite a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year with no playoffs and a third place finish in 3A in 2019.

Crystal Lake South had themselves an historic year as well. The Gators were ranked at points this season. They entered the Sun-Times Super 25 on January 21, 2024, at 25th spot. 25th on January 28, 2024. February 4, 2024, at 24. They fell out on February 11th. Prior to this year, the Gators had not won a sectional in 41 years. Coach Matt LaPage is 172-138 in 11 years as head coach.

The Rams move on to play Richwoods from Peoria on Friday morning in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. Richwoods (29-4) is coming off an impressive 58-52 victory over third ranked Thornton on Monday.

Richwoods is for real. Of Richwoods’ senior center Latham Summerville, basketball analyst Scott Burgess wrote, “No doubt about it Lathan Sommerville was the best player on the floor in [the Thornton] game. He was dominant from the very beginning of the contest. Big and physically imposing post dropped 32 points and double-digit boards. He took out the #1 and #2 ranked players in his class in back-to-back games along with the defending state champs [Moline] to lead his team to Champaign.”

It only gets tougher for the Rams.

[Blogger’s note: My thanks to my friend James Janega, a former Tribune reporter, for looking at this piece and offering some suggestions. I have landed some blows in my fight with the English language but I will need many more sparing sessions to get where I need to be.]

DePaul Prep Defeats Lake Forest 38-21; Wins St. Viator 3A Sectional

#4 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Lake Forest Scouts (25-8) 38-21 to win IHSA 3A Sectional at St. Viator Friday evening. It was a matchup of the #1 seed against the #2 seed. The Scouts were ranked a couple times this year last appearing at #20 on February 4, 2023, in the Sun-Times Super 25.

“I think by far [DePaul Prep is] the best coached defensive team that I have ever seen in high school basketball,” said Lake Forest head coach Phil LaScala. It was that defensive pressure in third quarter that turned the tide for the Rams.

Both teams knew what they wanted to do—play defense. That they did. The first half ended 11-11. If anything was proved in the first half, it was that the Scouts know how to pass the ball. Taking shots for the sake of taking shots is not a thing for them. Let’s call their shot selection—selective. One might even say deliberate.

The usual offensive formula for the Rams was not working either. Senior All City and All Area forward/guard PJ Chambers was scoreless in the first half. So was senior forward and third team All City forward Jaylan McElroy. Junior guard Makai Kvamme lead the Rams in the first half with four of the Rams’ 11 points including a clutch layup at the close of the half to draw the Rams even. Junior guard Rob Walls dropped a three in the first quarter. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal late in the second quarter.   

“We knew they would go 1-3-1 [defense]. I didn’t think they would start in it. We thought he would go man and then go 1-3-1. He started in it and that through us off. When he got out of it and we got downhill and their size was waiting on us. It bothered us,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The half court pressure by the Rams coming out of the half was the difference. “We picked up pressure. We did not sit back. We picked them up a half court. We tagged them all over and we trapped some things,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We had to change the pace of the game. If we would have gone on like that they would have beat us or it would have been a one possession game so we had to use our athleticism.

Rams junior guard Rob Walls got a steal and a layup to open the third quarter. Then Jaylan McElroy with steal and a dunk to open a what felt like a gigantic four-point lead. Four steals by the Ram on the first six Scouts’ possessions turned the tide. The Rams opened a 27-15 lead at the end of the third. With so few points being scored it felt like a huge lead.

“The sped us up a little bit. Our turnovers killed us and they got some easy baskets off the turnovers. That’s a big part of their game. They are the best defensive team that I have seen in the state. I watched a lot of film on them. I have watched them play a lot,” LaScala said.

It wasn’t all Rams. Lake Forest’s junior forward Hudson Scroggins was impressive with seven of the Scouts eleven points in the first half. But there simple weren’t very many points to be had for the Scouts.

With his team scoring so few points, LaScala had to do something. At the start of the fourth quarter the Scouts started fouling.

“I think they were trying to get in the bonus and make us shoot free throws,” Kleinschmidt said. “He was going to speed us up with traps and hopefully get turnovers. And he got them. But we came back down and got stops.

It wouldn’t be enough. The Rams can hold the ball. The Rams can make free throws. It ended 38-21 Rams.

After that game, Rams junior guard Rob Walls said, “[g]oin into [the third quarter] I knew we were going to need something, a spark for the team. The steals and layups brought us back into the game.”

Walls was indeed the spark the Rams needed with the size of Lake Forest neutralizing the play of McElroy and sophomore forward Rashawn Porter on the boards and the smothering coverage of high scoring PJ Chambers.

Walls was out with an injury much of the middle part of the season. “I feel dedicated to just keep working. Everyday in practice I keep working my best to get back in shape. Just running with these guys. Running with PJ and AJ; it’s helped me. It’s helped me big time,” said Walls.

The Rams move on to play Kaneland sectional winner Crystal Lake South (31-3) in the 3A Super-sectional game Monday at the NOW Area in Hoffman Estates.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mount Carmel 41-38; Win Chicago Catholic League

Here is a preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster:

By Jack Lydon

This was a heavy weight prize fight between two top teams, #4 ranked DePaul Prep (27-2, 8-0) and #7 Mount Carmel Caravan (26-5, 6-2), with top players, Jaylan McElroy and Angelo Ciaravino, for the Catholic League Championship. The Almighty must have wanted to save this game for end of season and cast the City of Chicago into a deep freeze on its regularly scheduled day causing the postponement to the end of the season.

This was not only the best game in town Monday night; it was the best game of the season and everyone knew would be. DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym as packed. There was an unconfirmed report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse snuck into the balcony seats after the game started but I did not see them.

The Rams fell behind 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Their shots were not falling. Mount Carmel scored inside early. Two things that typically do not happen. The Rams typically own the first quarter and give up very few points inside and trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept their composure. We talked about it. We have been there before. We are 13-1 in the playoffs the last two years. They have seen everything from down twelve with 2:50 to go to double overtime and overtime at Leo. They have seen a lot. It’s a thirty-two minute game,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The Rams rallied in the second quarter with stellar defense holding the Caravan to five points and going into halftime tied at 19-19. This would be one of those games decided in the last minute.

In the second half, the Rams came out of the gate scoring opening a seven-point lead at one point in the third quarter. But Mount Carmel is too good to go away quietly. The Caravan’s best player, Angelo Ciaravino, the fourth ranked player in the class of 2024, made his presence felt scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half.    

“We did a poor job on [Ciaravino] late. We had some poor execution defensively. He is that good of a player. He going to the Big Ten for a reason,” Kleinschmidt said.

The game was tied at thirty-eight each late. The defenses were tough. A steal by DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers led to a foul that stopped Chambers from a layup. The gym screamed for an intentional foul as Mount Carmel’s player wrapped up Chambers with both arms. Chambers free throw game the Rams a one-point lead.

Mount Carmel’s Ciaravino fifth foul caused another stoppage and a blizzard condemnation from the Caravan’s head coach Phil Segroves.

Two more free throws by sophomore forward Rashawn Porter game the Rams a three-point lead. The Caravan had the ball down three points and a chance to tie the game with a little over ten seconds to play. Point guard Noah Mister drove the lane, his right foot slide, he put his left for down, leaned back picking up his right foot, shot the ball which went in. A whistle rang out. The gym collectively growned thinking it was a shooting foul and Mister would have a chance to tie the game.

No. The call was traveling. The ref waived off for basket. DePaul Prep got the ball.

The Rams held on in the final few seconds winning 41-38 to secure the Chicago Catholic League championship for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Their sole Catholic League championship since the Gordon Tech days.

“First goal is done, yes,” said Kleinschmidt of the championship. “It’s everything. It’s the best league in the state by far. One of the best in the Midwest. There are a couple places to be greedy in basketball. Winning, winning it all and at the free throw line you get greedy. We are extremely proud of being undefeated in the best league in the stat and one of the best in the Midwest. 27-2, just tied a school record.”

“We just took what they game us,” said DePaul Prep’s leading scorer, senior forward PJ Chambers, with 20 points said.

“It was very important to win the Catholic League. Coach [Kleinschmidt] was very clear on what it means to win the Catholic League championship by ourselves. It’s so nice to win it all by ourselves.” Technically, the Rams had secured at least a three way share of the Championship with Brother Rice’s defeat of Mount Carmel the previous Friday.

What’s the second goal?

“State baby!” Chambers said. The Rams enter the IHSA 3A division state championship tournament next week. They open the in the Carmel Catholic regional in Mundelein on Tuesday. As the number one seed, the Rams will initially face the winner of the Grayslake North and Amundsen and then the winner of Wauconda and Carmel Catholic.

DePaul Prep Beats Marian Catholic 54-39 to Win Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic

[A preview of my next story in Inside Publications]

If there is one thing a DePaul Prep Rams basketball team knows how to do, it’s finish. The #7 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (15-0, 2-0) defeated the Marian Catholic Spartans (10-5, 3-1) 57-35 Saturday night to finish off its first Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic championship.

The Rams’ emotional victory over Oswego East in the semi-final game less than twenty-four hours before the championship game was the issue. The Oswego East game was certainly the Rams’ toughest game of the year. DePaul’s usual scoring formula—outside shooting and inside putbacks—was not working. They were 0-6 from three-point range. The big men inside, center senior Jaylan McElroy and sophomore Rashawn “Shawn” Porter, carried the load with some inside scoring but the Rams trailed at the half. They overcame their struggles in the second half and won going away, 54-39, but had it taken an emotional toll on the 14-0 Rams?

Having survived Oswego East, would the Rams suffer a letdown? Would the Rams’ struggles shooting the ball in the first half continue?

If there was going to be a letdown, it did now show as the championship game started. The Rams opened an early lead on the strength of two early three-pointers. One from senior guard PJ Chambers and the other from Shawn Porter. There was no letdown in the Rams. Chambers struggled against Oswego East but he was back to his reliable self against Marian. The Rams opened a ten-point lead by halftime.

Marian Catholic wasn’t going away. They are too well coached and too skilled for that. The Spartans cut the lead to seven at the start of the fourth.

Itt was time for the Rams to finish. 

“We just guarded. We try to start and finish quarters. The kids are buying into that. They did a nice job of finishing the quarter. We practice [finishing games]. We have some calls we make. The kids are aware of it. They are very attuned to it. We have been doing it for a while. We used to do it because we had to do it to win. We shorten possessions. Now we feel if we get a lead, we can make teams foul us and we make some free throws. If we get the lead, we can spread them and make the lead bigger,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

That’s what happened. The Rams shortened their passes, drew out the defense and the minutes ticked off. They either got some layups or drew fouls. But it was the other end of the court that made the difference. The Rams held Marian to three points in the fourth quarter. They did not give up a single field goal in the fourth quarter.  The man-to-man defense forced bad outside shots. The Spartans had just three points all on the foul shots.

PJ Chambers lead all scorers with 22 points. McElroy had 14. Junior guard Makai Kvamme had 12. Porter had 14. Sophomore AJ Chambers (PJ’s brother) had 2. Junior forward George Richardson also had 2.

This is the Rams’ first Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic championship in seven tries. They have been in a final four four times, including a second-place finish in 2019.

The Rams take their #7 ranking and their 15-0 record into January but those might not be around long. In the first three weeks of January, the Rams host #2 ranked Homewood-Flossmoor in the annual Steve Pappas Shootout at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. And then it will be #3 ranked Mount Carmel at home. And then 15 win, and conference rival, Brother Rice. Oh, and then powerhouse Normal Community High School after that. 

The Lane Tech Champions (10-7, 3-1) also competed in the Hinsdale Classic. The Champions lost a close opener to Maine South 65-52, then wins over Morgan Park 71-37 and Morton 63-30 but fell to Lincoln-Way Central 51-47 in the final game.

The #15 ranked Lincoln Park Lions (12-4, 3-0) have made a splash this year. They advanced to the championship game in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament losing to #4 ranked Warren Township High School, 78-52.

The Walter Payton College Prep Grizzlies travelled to Centralia for its holiday tournament. Despite picking up an early season upset victory at home against Lane Tech, the Grizzlies dropped all three games in Centralia to Mt. Vernon 56-34, Belleville West 63-48 and Cahokia 63-57.

DePaul Prep Defeats Oswego East 54-39 to Advance to HCHC Championship

The DePaul Prep Rams (14-0, 2-0) defeated Oswego East (10-5, 5-1) 54-39 Friday night to advance to the tournament championship at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

It was a gutty and gritty performance by the Rams under the weight of an undefeated record. Ultimately, it was the Rams’ signature defensive strength in the fourth quarter that lifted them to a convincing but certainly less than certain victory.

While the Rams waited for their game to start, they watched Brother Rice, their Chicago Catholic League Blue rival, their fellow highly ranked team and their fellow undefeated team, lose to Marian Catholic 75-74 in double overtime.

When asked if watching Rice lose moments before their own game was to start, Rams’ coach Tom Kleinschmidt admitted it had an effect on his team.

“So yes. I don’t like to hear that. It’s probably true. It’s probably a late game. Probably having no school all coincides with it. It was our third game in three nights. I am not going to make excuses. I thought we would be a little more ready. We should have been a little bit more ready. But I think we have got some tough guys that want to win. Our culture helped us rise above that,” Kleinschmidt said.

But Kleinschmidt denied the weight of a 13-0 season played a part in the early struggles in the game. “I really don’t feel that and I would tell you that if I thought it was. I just think we do a nice job. They really handle being undefeated. They don’t even talk about it. They are pretty mature,” Kleinschmidt said.

Rams’ senior guard PJ Chambers, and the Rams as a team, struggled shooting in the first half. Chambers is usually the catalyst of DePaul Prep’s early offense. Without that punch, the Rams did not get their characteristic first period lead. The Rams’ field goal percentage in the first quarter was just 26.7% and they were 0-11 from three-point range in the first three quarters.

Midway through the third period, Oswego East started a ¾ court press when the Rams brought up the ball. Rams’ junior point guard Makai Kvamme quickly passed the ball to the middle and another quick back door pass into Rashawn Porter under the basket for a bucket. They broke the press as quickly as it started. The Wolfpack gave it up and settled directly back into their zone defense.

“I think teams do want to play us in a zone. Especially if we should the ball like we did tonight. We were 2 of 16 for 3s. We are a better shooting team than that. We have got some heavy legs and it showed tonight. Hopefully we get some rest and are fresh tomorrow,” Kleinschmidt said.

The press break sequence was a turning point. The Rams regained that confidence that they have not lacked all season. They settled into their clock control motion offense. Rams senior guard PJ Chambers, who struggled mightily shooting in the first half, opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and added a second three-pointer a few minutes later to lift the Rams to a six-point lead.

“We got some deflections and steals and some layups that triggered us that gave a little bit of breathing room when we were not shooting the ball well,” Kleinschmidt said. The Rams closed the game scoring the last nine points and the final score made the game seem a more lopsided than it actually was. 

“It’s something all shooters go through. We have our highs, and we definitely have our lows. The main thing about a shooter is you gotta keep shooting,” Chambers said after the game.

Chambers downplayed the effect of watching Brother Rice lose. “Coach TK said, before we even started the tournament, that were going to be upsets. We definitely saw it. It was true for Brother Rice.”

Rams senior forward Jaylan McElroy did not suffer a first half slump. McElroy and fellow forward Rashawn “Shawn” Porter, who finished with 15 points, carried the Rams in the first half.

“I just kept playing my game. We were on the glass as a team but for me as an individual, I just kept the energy going. I did not let being down at the half get to me,” said McElroy, who lead all scorers with 17 points.

DePaul Prep won its opener against Lincoln-Way Central 53-25 on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Rams defeated the host Hinsdale Central Red Devils 51-33 to advance to face Oswego East. The Rams advance to face Marian Catholic in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic championship game.

In other action at the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic tournament, the Lane Tech Champions dropped their first game to Maine South 56-52 then rallied in the second round to defeat Morton high school 63-30.

[Note: With the last start and finish to the game and the early deadline for the New Year’s holiday, this piece missed the deadline and will not be in the Booster this week. That’s okay. It gives me a chance to do a whole holiday tournament rap up.]

DePaul Prep Defeats Hinsdale Central 51-39

The 7th ranked DePaul Prep Rams (13-0, 2-0) defeated the host Hinsdale Central Red Devils (6-6, 2-0) 51-33 in the quarter-finals of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

It was another typical DePaul Prep Rams win, if it started a little slower than usual. The Rams lead 11-10 at the end of the first quarter—not their usual early lead. It was the second quarter where the Rams opened the lead outscoring the Red Devils 16-8. After than Reds slowly pulled away and put the game away in the fourth.

Just another day at the office for the 13-0 DePaul Prep Rams. That’s what it’s been like this season: not flashy, just business-like and effective.

DePaul Prep’s Jaylan McElroy led all scorers with 18 points. PJ Chambers had 12. Makai Kvamme had 8. Sophomore guard and PJ’s brother AJ Chambers made a splash with 7 points.

The Rams will face Oswego East in two hours (from the time this post goes live on the website). Oswego East defeated Morton 72-39 in its first game at the HCHC and defeated Maine South 47-35 to advance to the semi-final game against DePaul Prep.

Oswego’s Jehvion Starwood looks to be the wolf in the pack to watch. He had 22 points against Maine South and 5 against Morton. Otherwise, the Wolfpack distributes it scoring amongst its players pretty evenly.

In the game preceding the Rams victory over Hinsdale Central, the 5th ranked Brother Rice Crusaders (15-0, 3-0) survived a 83-80 overtime scare from Auburn (Rockford). The Crusaders will face Marian Catholic in the other HCHC semi-final.

DePaul Prep Handles Lincoln-Way Central 53-25

The defending 2A state champions and #7 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (12-0, 2-0) handled the Lincoln-Way Central Knights (3-8, 0-3) 53-25 at the Hindale Central Holiday Classic.

The Rams jumped out to their characteristic early lead and never looked back. Junior point guard Makai Kvamme lead all scorers with 12. Gus Donohue had 9 points off the bench in 17 minutes. Jaylan McElroy and Rashawn Porter had 9 each.

The top seed Rams got the benefit of that top seed with a little lesser competition than the usually face in the Chicago Catholic League Blue and the fancy shootouts. That will change soon enough. They could easily face their neighbor, the Lane Tech Champions, that gave them fits in the Chicago Elite Classic. If they get past Lane, they might face the 5th ranked Brother Rice Crusaders in the championship game of the HC Squared on Saturday.

The Rams will likely face host and defending champion Hinsdale Central tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. The Red-Devils have a big lead as this item goes to live on the website.

Lots of basketball to play. I love this time of year.

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.

DePaul Prep Defeats Lane Tech 60-49 at Chicago Elite Classic

A preview of this week’s article in the Inside Booster:

The DePaul Prep Rams (6-0, 1-0) defeated the Lane Tech Champions 60-49 in the Chicago Elite Classic on Friday night at UIC’s Credit Union 1 Arena.

The Rams fell behind big time to a Champions squad that was firing on all cylinders. Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo had his Champions were ready to play. Playing aggressive defense and taking to ball inside to Lane’s standout junior center Dalton Scantlebury, who had nine points in the first quarter alone and finishing with a team high sixteen points, the Champions could do nothing wrong. They held a 22-5 lead until DePaul Prep’s Gus Donahue drained a three-pointer from the baseline to make the score 22-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“Our energy coming into the game was obviously very high. DePaul being about 500 feet from our campus, there is a bit of bad blood there,” said Scantlebury. 

“We did some things with our scouting that was different from what they have seen on film and that was by design. We were locked into what we needed to do to attack them,” said Lane head coach Nick LoGalbo.

The Champions went right at the Rams. They got the ball into Scantlebury who scored three straight buckets. That freed up the Champions’ star player Shaheed Solebo who poured in eight points of his own. The Rams were on the ropes.

Lane and DePaul Prep, the successor to long time Gordon Tech high school which was just across the Chicago River from Lane, have been neighbors for decades but not exactly rivals. Now with Gordon becoming DePaul Prep and moving from the Fr. Gordon Campus into the old Devry College building immediately south for Lane, it may be that the rivalry is growing.

DePaul Prep is in the Chicago Catholic League and Lane is in the Chicago Public League. Their paths don’t cross often in competition. They have met in basketball only twice in recent years with DePaul coming out on top in 2015 and 2018 in the championship games of the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament, a tournament jointly hosted by the two schools.

It wasn’t always that way. The schools faced off in the 1980 state playoff semi-final game at Lane which the Rams won 15 to 8 going on to win the Gordon Tech’s only state championship in football. The schools played in basketball a few times in the early 2000’s in tournaments with Lane winning three in a row. Before that it was Gordon Tech had the edge winning eight of ten matchups dating back to 1961.

Given Scantlebury’s comment and the fact that the players know each other pretty well from playing with and against each other during the summer, have a rivalry growing. Plus the fact that the Rams won a state basketball championship that last year doesn’t appear to sit too well with the Lane players. The rivalry looks to be heating up.

The Chicago Elite Classic has spice things up in an early season marquis matchup pitting the two programs which are gaining some attention.

This huge early deficit is not part of the typical game plan for Tom Kleinschmidt formula wins. His teams are supposed to grab an early first quarter lead, survive a second quarter comeback by the opponent, build a lead in the third quarter and finish the fourth quarter with rebounds and free throws.

The plan had to be different on Friday night but not the result.  

“We weren’t ready to play. Defensively, which is our strong point, we were not is sync. When they started making shots, we got shook. We got punched in the face. We had to regroup a little bit in the second quarter,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmit, himself a Gordon Tech grad well acquainted with the neighboring city size school across the Chicago River then and now across a parking lot.

At the start of the second quarter, Kleinschmidt dialed up a three-quarter court press that took the Champions out of what they were doing. 

“They went without a bucket for about six minutes. [We] cut it in have and we had a enough will in the second half to hang on,” Kleinschmidt say.

The Rams did more than cut the lead in half, they all but erased Lane’s huge lead in the second quarter outscoring the Champions 20 to 9 trailing 31-28 at the half.

“Early they were loading up on Dalton [Scantlebury] and we had really good weakside action. Once we started seeing the pressure, we weren’t as aware and probably a little tired. The weakside action stopped happening. We had some turnovers and just not great shots,” LoGalbo said.

It was more than just dialing up a press. Kleinschmidt new his advantage and played it.

“We thought we were a little deeper at the guard spots and we wanted to wear them down. They came out excellent; fantastic job by Lane coming out. But with our experience at guard and out depth at guard, if we could pressure them for 32 minutes, I thought we could get our hands on some live ball turnovers and that’s what happened,” Kleinschmidt added.

That experience and skill at the guard position showed in the end. Rams senior guard PJ Chambers, a product of Bell School, just a few blocks from both Lane and DePaul Prep, came alive in the second half. He led all scorers with twenty-two points including nine free throws in ten attempts that put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Part of that guard advantage was AJ Chambers, PJ’s sophomore brother, who had three points.

The Rams’ senior center Jaylan McElroy, who survived a little foul trouble in the first half but was ably spelled by sophomore forward Rashaun Porter, finished with twelve points.

I would tell you what is next for these two programs but I haven’t thought much past this game. It’s been fast and furious start to season. Time to take a breath.

But stay tuned. The season just started.

DePaul Prep Wins Battle of the Bridge Tournament with 67-50 Victory over Niles North

Defending 2A State Champions, the DePaul Prep Rams (4-0, 0-0) defeated the Niles North Vikings 67-50 in the championship game of the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament at DePaul Prep Friday night.

The frustration on the face of Niles North coach Glenn Olson was palpable. His Vikings were close, but the DePaul Prep Rams were just too solid in every phase. Niles North has suffered four loses to DePaul Prep in the Battle of Bridge championship game dating back to 2016 and one in a semi-final.

A quick 6-0 lead for the Rams to open the first quarter was part of the formula for a Tom Kleinschmidt victory. Get lead in the first quarter, survive the inevitable bounce back, build the lead in the third quarter, handle the ball and make free throws to win. It was a textbook Tom Kleinschmidt win—even if it didn’t feel very safe and any point until the end.

The Rams can execute in every phase and did on Friday. They can run and score in transition. They can the drive the lane, taking it to the rim or hitting the floater. Rams’ junior guard Makai Kvamme has stepped up his game on the point taking over where graduated senior Maurice Thomas left off.

Senior guard PJ Chambers was scoring inside and out, leading all scorers with 20 points, even with being occasionally spelled by his little brother AJ Chambers. And we are not even talking about Jaylan McElroy yet. The big man got in a little foul trouble and spent the second quarter on the bench. No worries. Sophomore forward LaShawn Porter filled right in. Jaylan dominated the boards throughout and was money with the key free throws in the fourth quarter. Junior Jonas Johnson hit a three on the Rams 15-2 run late in the second quarter and some free throws at the end.

This year’s Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament was one of the early season’s marquis events featuring two ranked teams, #13 DePaul Prep and #20 Lane Tech. Niles North is right there too. In fact, the Vikings were singled out by Joe Henricksen of the City Suburban Hoops Report as a team likely to break into the Super 25.

“How many teams have the opportunity to play two ranked teams in two road games at a Thanksgiving tournament?” Olson said after the Lane game.

The other teams were Lane, Notre Dame, Englewood Stem, Francis Parker, Jones and Prosser.

The Lane Tech v. Niles North game played on Wednesday also a marquis matchup of excellent teams. A packed and noisy gym at Lane saw the Champions edged by the Vikings 63-61. Match up featured two top players in the area: Lane’s Shaheed Solebo and Niles North’s Yaris Irby.  

“The close of the second half was one of the best that I have seen. We wanted to spread them to get some fouls,” said Rams coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The fourth quarter Rams defense particularly on Niles North star player Yaris Irby who had only two points just closed out the game.

“The constant pressure and switching [players to cover Irby] was part of it. We don’t put one guy on one guy where they both get tired. We kind of share the load. And I think that kind of help us in second halves. Everybody can guard whoever. They have to guard whoever. It keeps us fresh at the end of the game.

“That was fun and nerve-racking. I was never comfortable and never am.”

The Rams open Chicago Catholic League play on Thursday at St. Rita. The Rams then make their first appearance in the Chicago Elite Classic with a game on Friday, December 1, 2023, against neighbor Lane Tech at UIC’s Credit 1 Arena.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout 2023

Some think Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July are the best part of the summer. The truth is the best weekend of the summer is the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout.

The 20th Annual Summer Shootout is the premiere summer “Live Period” event in the Chicago area. R-B coach Mike Reingruber and his staff put run a superb event, a well-oiled machine. Eighty high school teams from the area including two from the St. Louis area. The facilities make it easy to watch two games at a time; even the food is good.

It’s a little early to start writing about what teams are going to be the top going into the 23-24 season. The R-B is more about getting a look at emerging players and how teams have changed.

Whitney Young v. East St. Louis. The first game I saw was Whitney Young v. East St. Louis. The Dolphins reloaded and are led by junior forward Antonio Munoz who looked in fine form. Junior point guard Damajay Richardson impressed with some nice moves followed by long jumpers.

Lane Tech v. O’Fallon. Lane Tech v. Downers Grove South. Lane struggled in the first half against O’Fallon but the shots started to fall in the second half. The Champions definitely missed Dalton Scantlebury who did not play. On Friday, the Champions fell to O’Fallon 69-43. They rallied but lost in overtime to Downers Grove South 62-60.

Kenwood v. Oswego East. These are two really good teams. Kenwood got even better in recent days by landing Rivals #43 ranked player in the nation Davion Hannah. At least one report says Hannah is not fully committed to attending Kenwood. Nevertheless, he played for Kenwood today. Kenwood handled Oswego East 67-54 and then Rolling Meadows 77-56. Kenwood looks like the top Chicago Public League, at the R-B, in June.

Oswego East went on to top St. Charles East 68-48.

Simeon v. Marist. Last year’s number one area team, Simeon has a new coach and a whole to look. The Rubin brothers and hugely talented point guard Jalen Griffith have graduated. The Wolverines are smaller but very quick. Senior Rashad Mckinnie is back and played well today. So did senior point guard Jashon Liggett.

DePaul Prep v. Lindbloom. DePaul Prep v. Hillcrest. The Rams come into the R-B newly crowned IHSA 2A champions having graduated their leader Maurice Thomas and lost starting forward Payton Kamin to a prep school transfer, plus standout junior Jonas Johnson is out with an injury. Who was going to fill in? Rams’ junior guard Rob Walls stepped right in. So did sophomore RaShaun Porter. Despite being 2A State Champions, the Rams finished seventh in the Chicago Catholic League Blue with a 6-7 record.

Those who follow the Rams closely will recall that injuries deprived the Rams of two of their best players, Jaylan McElroy and Payton Kamin, for the bulk of conference play. The Rams look to return to top form and will compete for the top of the Chicago Catholic League Blue.

The Rams move up to 3A this year because of the schools ballooning enrollment, either that or the IHSA success factor having been to the State Finals three times in four tries including one championship. DePaul Prep expects an incoming freshman class of 315.

DeLaSalle v. Lyons Township. On Saturday, I wanted to see what Gary DeCesare was doing with his Meteors. They are big and athletic and seem to have picked up where they left off atop the Chicago Catholic League White standings.

St. Lawrence v. Schaumburg. Next over to the Field House to check out the second half of the St. Lawrence Vikings against Schaumburg’s Saxons. The Vikings expect to challenge the Meteors in the CCL White. Today, Byron Burt’s Vikings were led by former St. Rita head coach and now St. Lawrence assistant, Roshawn Russell. Coming with Russell from St. Rita was Nojus Indrusaitis. Nojus is the second ranked Illinois in Prep Hoops in the class of 2024. St. Lawrence is going to be very good and looked every bit the part against a good Schaumburg squad.

St. Ignatius v. Homewood-Flossmoor. It was a bit of an early day for me at the R-B, so this would be my last game of the day. I managed a quick word with the leader of the Pack, St. Ignatius coach Matt Martin. The Pack were a little depleted at this R-B with some players out injured and with others unavailable. Knowing that going in, I was struck by how quick the new group of wolves played. Quick up and down the court and moving the back around for the open shot.

The R-B always leaves one wanting more.

DePaul Prep Advanced to 2A State Championship Game with 45-17 Defensive Gem over Teutopolis

The DePaul Prep Rams are peaking at the best time of the season. They handled the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes 45-17 in the IHSA 2A semi-final in Champaign. I was told that 17 points is the lowest point total in IHSA playoff history. Teutopolis struggled to even get shots up. This was probably the Rams best performance of the year.

The Rams difficulties in the Chicago Catholic League, going 6-7 in the Blue, were clearly frustrating, even disconcerting, for the Rams and their fans.

“We got the injuries when we had Rita, Mount Carmel and DeLaSalle so we took our lumps early,” said DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt. “But we learned from that. And now we are a little bit seasoned.”

Advancing in such dominant fashion to the state championship game must be satisfying, even vindicating, for the Rams. But even more than that, the Rams and their coach Tom Kleinschmidt clearly want it. They are driven to get this championship.

The defensive effort of the Rams, particularly in the second half, was something really special--truly a historic defensive effort. Teutopolis did not score in the fourth quarter. Their seventh and final point came midway through the third quarter.

“We executed our game plan. We fronted the post on the big. We wanted to turn them into passers with back side help. We shaded [Teutopolis’s Brayden Niebrugge and Garrett Gaddis]. We wanted to make the other guys score on us. [Teutopolis’s James Niebrugge, Brayden’s cousin] hurt us,” Kleinschmidt continued.

“We wanted to run that clock in the fourth quarter. So we called a longer set. We wanted to take a minute and a half [off the clock with every possession] and have them chase us. We wanted to wear them down where they had to chase and foul. And then we could do what we did, flash and get back door cuts.”

DePaul’s senior guard Maurice Thomas nearly beat Teutopolis himself with sixteen points. Junior forward Jaylan McElroy had ten points. PJ Chambers with seven. Payton Kamin with six. Jonas Johnson and Henry West each with exclamation point buckets at the end. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention senior Dane Barkley’s beautiful no look assist to Henry West with 1:12 left.

The Rams advance to face the Bloomington Central Catholic Saints on Saturday in the 2A state championship game at 12:45.

Be careful what you wish for. Bloomington Central Catholic defeated Rockridge 57-44 in the other semi-final. The Saints have Cole Certa. Certa finished with nineteen points, sixteen of which came in the second half. If you have not heard of Certa, you soon will. The heavily recruited junior guard is the third highest rated 2024 prospect in Illinois behind only St. Rita’s Morez Johnson and James Brown.

Stay tuned. The Rams will have to duplicate, or maybe improve their defensive effort to bring home the school’s first basketball state championship.

DePaul Prep Defeats North Lawndale 50-42 to Win 2A Sectional

Preview of my upcoming Inside Publications article:

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the North Lawndale Phoenix 50-42 on Friday evening to win the IHSA 2A Christ the King Sectional championship and move on the Super-sectional against Perspectives—Leadership on Monday.

The Rams’ pair of highly rated forwards, Jaylan McElroy and Payton Kamin, have sat out much of the season with injuries but they have been back in the line up together now for a couple weeks. It has taken a while to see if and when the talented pair would regain their dominate form. These last two sectional playoff games against two very good CPS teams have answered those questions. And the answers are yes and now.

The DePaul Prep Rams, 19-12 overall and 6-7 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue, have two third-place finishers in the state tournament in recent years. In 2019, the Rams lost to Bogan in the 3A semi-final and defeated Peoria Manual to take third place. Last year, the Rams lost to Nashville in the 2A semi and defeated Rockridge to take third.

And let’s not forget the Rams functional equivalent of a state title with the #1 ranking and championship in the COVID season’s Chipotle post-season tournament in the absence of the IHSA state finals in the COVID season.

The North Lawndale Phoenix, 15-11 overall and 5-3 in the CPS Red-West/North, have a storied history as well having won a 2A state championship in 2008 under their late coach Lewis Thorpe.

The Rams’ second quarter defensive stand and rebounding performance proved that the junior pair are back and playing together at a high level. After an even 9-9 first quarter, the Rams defense put the Phoenix back on one their heels.

“I think our switching bothered them a little bit. And then they got used to it and spread us,” DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said about the Rams second quarter play. That’s what happened. Interestingly, the Rams and Phoenix play a similar game. They both want to move the ball side-to-side looking the dribble penetration for a layup or a kick out pass for an open three.

The Rams would not bite. DePaul did a great job switching defensive coverages as the Phoenix the ball around which forced long outside shots that missed the mark.

“We did a nice job giving them one shot and keep them off the glass. We limited their possessions. We did what we wanted to do,” Kleinschmidt said of the defensive stand that held North Lawndale scoreless for most of the second quarter while the Rams converted on the other end for an 11-0 run.

It wasn’t all Rams. North Lawndale is too tough and skilled to turned off for long.

“In the second half, we had a hard time containing the ball. They spread us in the second half. Attacked our guards a little bit and got in the paint too much. And that bothered us in the second half,” Kleinschmidt continued.

Down 25-16 at the half, North Lawndale chiseled their way back in the game briefly tying the game late in the third quarter. But the Phoenix physical play get them in foul trouble repeatedly sending the Rams to the line. Not a good place to be against the DePaul shooters. The Rams dropped sixteen free throws in the second half.

“I just think it’s a style they play in the Red West. They press. They are physical. They play a lot of guys. They are in shape. That’s their style of play and we know that going in,” Kleinschmidt said of the Phoenix physical play.

At the end of the game, “we [did] a nice job of spreading [the offense]. We usually have some guys that can make some free throws and that didn’t happen tonight. But we made enough [free throws] to get a win. We got enough stops and rebounds down the stretch,” Kleinschmidt said.

The Rams took their lumps in the Chicago Catholic League regular season without them. The early season four game losing streak to St. Laurence, DeLaSalle, Mount Carmel and St. Rita definitely stung. When asked about what this playoff success means to his team, Kleinschmidt said, “We’ve got two goals. We want to win the Catholic League and we want to win State. We knew we would probably struggle when we had the injuries. We looked at it as a positive. The sophomores (forward Jonas Johnson, point guard Makai Kvamme and guard Rob Walls) would get a lot of minutes and then they could help us in games like tonight. And they did.”

Of the press break and killing the clock, Kleinschmidt said, “we drill it and practice it so they should be good at it. We turned it over one time late that we did not like. If we would have finished some of those layups we had, I think we missed three layups under the rim, that’s what we wanted. We don’t want jump shots under five [minutes]; we want to go to the rim. It makes the game a little easier if you finish those.”

DePaul Prep will face Perspectives Leadership on Monday in the super-sectional at Joliet Central High School. The winner of that game moves on the state championship 2A finals starting Thursday.

DePaul Prep Drops Lake Forest 51-45 at Steve Pappas Shootout

DePaul Prep hosted its 4th Annual Steve Pappas Shootout on Saturday. Four high level high school basketball games from noon to 6:30. The first game was the host DePaul Prep Rams (10-6, 1-4) against Lake Forest Scouts (7-8, 2-2).

The Rams opened an early lead on strength of seven points by PJ Chambers. The Rams have struggled a little this year losing four straight games to Chicago Catholic League opponents. The Rams are without two junior starters Jaylon McElroy and Payton Kamin who are expected to return to the starting line-up soon.

This matchup against Lake Forest brought Asa Thomas to Tom Winiecki Gym. The Lake Forest senior forward and Clemson commit is one of the top players in Illinois. This was the first time I got to see him play in person. He did not disappoint. Unfortunately for the Scouts, he didn’t have enough support on either end of the floor.

The Rams opened a ten point halftime and lead by as much as 14 in the third quarter. Lake Forest chipped away at the lead cutting it to four points with 17 seconds left. The Scouts turned the ball over with 6 seconds on the clock. The Rams survived 51-45.

Asa Thomas lead all scorers with 24 points. The Rams PJ Chambers had 22. It was a nice win for the Rams against a quality team in the shootout honoring their from coach Steve Pappas.

DePaul Prep Falls to Mount Carmel 42-41

Preview of my Inside Publications article this week.

No. 17 Mount Carmel defeats DePaul Prep 42-41

DePaul Prep Rams lost to Mount Carmel Caravan 42-41 at Mount Carmel Friday night. The Rams are struggling through an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division.

 The Rams (4-3, 0-3) opened the game outscoring the 17th ranked Caravan (7-1, 2-0) five to zero. The Caravan then went on a 10-0 run to close the quarter. They would hold the lead that eventually dwindled to a single point at the buzzer to survive a young and injured Rams team.

The early run by the Caravan was aided by some sloppy Rams ball handling. “They picked us up a little bit, trapped us a couple times when we were lazy with the ball. We have bad habits in practice right now in passing. They are leading to the game,” said Rams head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

The young Rams start three sophomores, center Jonas Johnson, guard Makai Kvamme and guard Rob Walls, one junior, PJ Chambers and one senior, guard and leading scorer Maurice Thomas. Out with injuries for the moment are junior standouts and returning starters Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy.

Despite the Rams having two of their best players on the court, they opened the season 4-0 winning the Battle of the Bridge Tournament hosted by DePaul Prep along with Lane Tech. Catholic League Blue conference play has been a different story. Coming into this game, the Rams were on a two-game losing streak in the conference play dropping games to St. Lawrence and DeLaSalle.

There are encouraging signs for the Rams. Mount Carmel’s transfer Lee Marks emerged as a force for the Caravan at last weekend’s Chicago Elite Classic. The Rams shut him down. “We scouted him pretty well. Our gap defense shut his driving lanes down a little bit. We did a nice job keeping him off the boards. He is a fantastic rebounder. He had seventeen rebounds against Laurence,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Caravan never blow the game wide open. The largest lead they managed was seven points. Then curiously, early in the third quarter, Caravan head coach Phil Segorves slowed down the pace of game. At one point midway through the fourth quarter, Caravan point guard Deandre Craig put the ball on his hip in classic style and waited for the Rams to come out and defend.

 “I think they wanted to pull us out and get us in the bonus. [Deandre] Craig is one of the two or three best point guards in the league. I think [Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segorves] wanted to put the ball senior point guard’s hands and control the game, get fouls and go to the line,” Kleinschmidt added.

The Rams chiseled away at the Caravan lead making it a one possession game for the last couple minutes. Only a questionable turn over call and foul pushed the lead to four. The Rams made it a one-point game with a three before the buzzer.

The fact that the young Rams can play with the seventh ranked CCL powerhouse Caravan has to be encouraging for Rams fans. This adversity early in the season is going to help them when they get their scorers back. “1000%. Everybody is getting minutes. This time that they are getting you normally can’t get it. And they are playing well. We are stretching our bench. When we get everybody back, we will be in good shape,” said Kleinschmidt.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for the young Rams who host 5th ranked St. Rita Mustangs next Friday the DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday. St. Rita will be riding high after defeating the 6th ranked and previously unbeaten Brother Rice Crusaders 57-51 at Brother Rice.