DePaul Prep Survives Mount Carmel 66-63

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

By Jack Lydon

“We don’t have any rivals.”

Not sure that he meant it the way it came across, but that’s what DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo said when asked about Mount Carmel after his new team, the DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) survived a late challenge to defeat the Caravan 66-63 at Mount Carmel Friday evening.

Woo may not appreciate the rivalry, this being his first year on the Rams, but DePaul Prep’s rivalry with Mount Carmel is very real. The DePaul Prep has played and defeated Mount Carmel three times in the last twelve months. The Rams defeated the Caravan last February 41-38 to win the Chicago Catholic League and then again a month later to win the 3A state championship over Mount Carmel 49-41. There is also the looming possibility of a fourth meeting in this year’s 3A playoffs. The way the sectional assignments line up, if both teams advance they could meet again in March in a state final or semi-final.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves when asked about losing three times to DePaul Prep in the last year.

“We feel we’ve got something pretty special here and we know they do too. We’re gonna just keep knocking on the door.”

The game opened with the DePaul’s defense taking Mount Carmel out of what they wanted to do. The defensive engine for the Rams runs on senior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls. Walls took a large hand in shutting down Mount Carmel’s star point guard Noah Mister Friday night. In one sequence midway through the second quarter, Walls tied up Mister and stole the ball. A quick pass by Walls to Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme lead to a layup and the Rams opened an eight point lead.

“Usually, you’ll see me take a charge out there and all the sudden you’ll see all of us getting excited. That just gets us going. It’s fun being out there. Playing with competitors, it’s fun,” said Walls.

The Rams defense set the tone, but junior guard and Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo and junior center Rashaun Porter scored the points. Woo lead the Rams with 28 points, including three three-pointers and thirteen free throws.

“We know that Rykan Woo is a very good player. Even though Makai Kvamme runs the show at point, [DePaul’s] offense goes through Woo,” Segroves said.

“He’s their scorer. We knew that. We did our very best to defend him. He still came out on top. Sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

 “I think it’s just repetition and practice. Just trying to not let my mind mess around with me,” Woo said of his hitting 10 of 12 free throws in the game.

“My teammates do a great job setting me up all the time. I give them a lot of the credit.”

In addition to Woo’s twenty-five points, Ram’s junior center Rashaun Porter had sixteen points including two big free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Despite the defensive efforts of Walls and the scoring efficiency of Woo and Porter, the Caravan came roaring back in the closing minutes. Let by senior guard Grant Best with twenty-three points, Mount Carmel came back from a thirteen-point Rams lead early in the third quarter to make it a one possession game in the closing seconds.

The Rams improve their record to 18-1 with their only loss coming in the fourth game of the season to then #1 ranked Kenwood and then only by two-points on the last possession of the game.

The Catholic League is also coming into focus. Mount Carmel now has two losses, one earlier in the year to Fenwick and one tonight to DePaul Prep. Brother Rice suffered a Catholic League loss on Friday to St. Ignatius. Only DePaul Prep and Fenwick are undefeated in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division. The Rams will face the Friars on February 14th but there are plenty of league games for both teams between then and now. Still a lot of basketball yet to play.

For now at least, the DePaul Prep Rams are likely to retain their number #1 ranking this week and sit atop the Chicago Catholic League just short of two-thirds of the way through the season.

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.

DePaul Prep Wins IHSA 3A Regional with Victory over North Grand

The DePaul Prep girls’ varsity volleyball team defeated North Grand high school in the IHSA 3A Prosser Regional on Thursday evening in straight sets, 25-9 and 25-4. The Rams finish the year with a record of 27-8 and 4-2 in the GCAC, with a ten-game win streak at the end of the season.

The eleventh seed North Grand Eagle Owls, with an overall record of 8-10 and 4-5 in conference, came in a little overmatched against third seed DePaul Prep. The Rams took the match in straight sets, 25-9 and 25-4.

This was the first IHSA Regional title for Rams’ head coach Coach Gajzler in her four years at DePaul Prep.

“We took over the program four years ago. There wasn’t much built in terms of a system or a culture or a program. The past four years we have just been focused on building a program and sustainability,” said a beeming Coach Gajzler after the match.

“I remember Bobby [Hughes] telling me that it is a real testament when your first freshman become seniors and that is this group. We have had them for four years. They only know Coach Hughes and I.”

The DePaul Prep volleyball program is on its way. With fifty-four girls in the program at all levels, volleyball is emerging as a powerhouse at DePaul and in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference.

“We are ready for the challenge of moving up from 2A to 3A. I packed our schedule this year. Our schedule was very competitive from start to finish,” said Gajzler.

“Starting with ICC, we had three crossover matches into the GCAC Red [Division]. We are the only White [Division] team that played three cross over matches into the Red. Obviously, we won two of the three with St. Laurence and DeLaSalle. That gave us the confidence going into the playoffs.”

This is the third regional title in girls’ volleyball for DePaul Prep. The previous years were 2017-18 and 2018-19. Gordon Tech won regionals in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2011-12 (my daughter Mary’s senior year) and 2013-14.

DePaul Prep has never won a sectional championship. Now is the chance. The Rams will face St. Ignatius on Monday at St. Ignatius at 7:00 p.m.

The Rams come into the Sectionals as the number 3 seed behind DeLaSalle #1 seed and St. Ignatius #2 seed. The Meteors and the Wolfpack are also GCAC members, both in the Red Division and come into the Sectional finals with records of 26-7 and 22-9 respectively. The Rams defeated DeLaSalle in three sets on October 10th. The Rams have not played the Wolfpack this season.

Basketball is Back at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout

I love the R-B Shootout. Gets me back into basketball. I get to see teams and players I don’t ordinarily see during the season.

The games don’t mean much. One always wants to win but it is more about seeing what teams have and what they lost.

Last year I realized the R-B is not a good time and place for photos. It is more of a place to get to know teams and players. Although I do love the main gym. It has excellent light and lots of space to get a good position.

I took some photos more to capture the atmosphere than game action.

R-B has 56 teams. A mix of traditional powerhouses, teams with standout players and just average teams but more of the former than the latter.

I hesitate to comment upon and evaluate players for want of proper bone fides for such an endeavor. My basketball credentials don’t get much past coaching my son’s grade school basketball team. But I am sticking with my decision to report because more coverage is better than less coverage. (Mike Clark encouraged me. So blame him if I get it all wrong.) So, in the venerable words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.” I can recognize a good player, or maybe just a good play, when I set it. So here goes.

The first game of the day was St. Ignatius vs. Timothy Christian. I wanted to check out Timothy Christian’s 6’8” senior center Ben VanderWal. I also wanted to see how Chicago Catholic League contender and likely top ten team St. Ignatius looks.

VanderWal is the real thing. He has size and length. He can shoot. He plays defense. He will carry Timothy Christian.

St. Ignatius is very good. They move the very well. They make layups. They play defense. It seemed like they are much bigger than last year. Kolby Gilles, Richard Barron and A. J. Redd all looked bigger and faster. I do not remember big junior Jackson Kotecki from last year but I should have. He is the piece that rounds out this group. And they have a player named Emmett O’Shaughnessy. How can one not love that?

Next was Rolling Meadows vs. Ridgewood. I wanted to see Cameron Christie. He didn’t play much so I can’t draw any conclusions. It seemed like Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich wanted to see what the rest of his squad could do. Interestedly, when Christie was in, he brought up the ball like his older brother incoming Michigan State freshman, Max Christie.

Without too much of Christie to be contended with, Coach Chris Mroz’s scrappy Ridgewood squad made a game of it. Tons of effort in this game even without the East Gym packed with college coaches.

Next were the DePaul Prep games. First Oak Forest, then Glenbrook South. Oak Forrest has Robbie Avila. That kid is just big. He he can handle the ball, he can score and he can blot out the sun. But I have to say, DePaul Prep’s Dylan Arnett played him well. I would say Arnett got the better of him.

From the frying pan and into the fire for Arnett. Glenbrook South’s Nick Martinelli followed immediately. It’s no secret to even casual observers that Martinelli is one of the best players in the state but I had never seen him until today. He did not disappoint. Arnett played well but at times, many times, Nick Martinelli could not be denied.

Glenbrook South, last year’s Central Suburban League Champions over Evanston, is a much better team than Oak Forest. Glenbrook South held the young Rams in check. One noticed the absence of DePaul Prep’s scoring machines TY Johnson and Rashid Bello in this game. The Rams stayed close but lost 43-34.

Then Glenbard West vs. St. Rita. I had to see Glenbard West and I wanted to see how the young St. Rita team was coming along.

Glenbard West is the best high school basketball team I have seen in a long time; certainly the biggest. The 1-3-1 zone had St. Rita stymied in the first half. The Mustangs did not score for a long time at the beginning of the game. The Hilltopper’s 6’10” forward Braden Huff has length and nose for the basket. He just took the ball to the hoop. Caden Pierce, Paxton Warden, Bobby Durkin and Ryan Renfro rounding out an all 6’3” or better starting five. Oh, and they are athletic too. Fast. This team has to be a favorite to make it to the 4A finals.  

Then Loyola vs. Bogan. Loyola is always good. Tom Livatino gets a bunch of athletes, coaches them up and turns them into a winning basketball team. Just always expect Loyola to be very good. Nothing different with this group. I don’t think he has any D1 prospects but they will contend for the CCL for sure. As always.

Finally, Joliet West vs. Whitney Young. The last that I saw Whitney Young, TY Johnson put forty points on them and DePaul Prep upset the Dolphins at St. Patrick’s last March in the Chipolte season ending tournament. Coach Slaughter has his team hitting on all cylinders. Just a group of big, fast athletes. They are excellent shooters. Gotta be another favorite to win 4A.

I also learned today that DePaul Prep sophomore coach Sean Connor got the head coaching job at Antioch High School. Sean is a great coach. Seriously, this guy can coach. His teams won the sophomore division of the Chicago Catholic League for, I don’t know how many years in a row, eight, nine? And he won it with the best freshmen and sophomore playing up a lot of the time. Antioch will love Sean. Just a wonderful person. I am happy for him that he will be fifteen minutes away from his home and won’t be so far from his growing family. I am also happy he didn’t land at a Catholic League school.

There you go. I am so happy basketball is on again.

Hope you like the photos.

Inside Article Preview--CPS Basketball Getting Underway—Catholic League Opens with DePaul Prep Win and Loyola Loss

The Chicago Public Schools announced Feb. 8 that high school basketball could begin Feb. 11. Coaches are expecting to work through tryouts, start practices on Feb. 12 and start games on February 19. The IHSA announced is extension of the CPS season to March 20, a week longer than the March 13 limit with applies throughout the rest of the state. This gives CPS teams one month and one day to play as many games as can safely be scheduled.

“We have 10 teams in our league [Red West-North]. So it’s nine games that CPS has given us for a league schedule,” Lane Tech Coach Nick LoGalbo said. Lane will play Clark, Farragut, Lincoln Park, Marshall, North Lawndale, Orr, Schurz, Westinghouse and Young. The dates and time have not been finalized.

“What the non-conference schedule looks like, I don’t know. Are they going to allow us to schedule and extra game per week or are they going to cap it? I don’t know,” LoGalbo said.

“Unfortunately, all the Catholic League and 30-mile radius teams have their schedules pretty locked up already. We were going to play DePaul and Pat’s and Ignatius. I don’t know if we are going to be able to get those teams in.”

“I wish I knew more. When [the IHSA] extended [the season] a week, I really thought they were going to do a regular season schedule and then a conference tournament that last week. But based upon the preliminary schedule I received, the regular season goes all the way to deadline. So I don’t think there is going to be any playoff or tournament.”

The preliminary CPS rules given initially to coaches do not allow spectators at all. Each team is allowed 20 people--15 players, two coaches and three others. There would also be two people at the table, three officials, one administrator and a maintenance person. There is not specific allowance for press. However, that may change after coaches have their meeting scheduled for Feb. 11.

Sixth ranked DePaul Prep played its first game Monday, Feb. 8, defeating St. Joseph 54-37 in St. Joseph’s nearly empty gym.

The Rams came out cold. Suffering jitters from the nearly year-long layoff, both teams missed shots and turned the ball over.

After a St. Joseph 7-0 run to open the game and about half of the first quarter, DePaup Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt dialed up the pressure having his Rams trap the ball handler.

 “Slow start coming out. You have to hand it to Joe’s. They were way more physical than us. They came and punched us in the face . . .. It’s a Catholic League road game so you have to be ready and we weren’t. For whatever reason. I’m not making any excuses. We picked up pressure and started getting some live ball turnovers. We started getting some baskets,” Kleinschmidt said.

Midway through the second quarter the Rams opened a 12-point lead and it never was close after that.

DePaul senior guard Tyler “TY” Johnson lead all scorers with 26 points. DePaul senior guard Rasheed Bello finished with 9 points but had an end-to-end monster dunk in the first half that fired up the Rams.

Senior center Brian Matthews did not play until the start of the fourth quarter. “Brian hasn’t practiced yet. That’s the only reason [he didn’t play]. We brought him in in the fourth to give Dylan a little plow and that’s it,” Kleinschmidt said.

Postponements and cancellations have crippled the Chicago Catholic League schedule. The Rams were scheduled to play Marmion on Feb. 10. However, St. Joe’s had a player with a positive test within 48 hours after DePaul game, and after contact tracing, DePaul Prep determined that the majority of their varsity team would have to quarantine for 10 days. The Rams will miss the Marmion, Montini and Providence St. Mell games. The Rams next scheduled game is Feb. 17. at DeLaSalle Academy.

Loyola Academy opened its season at home Friday, Feb. 5, against Maine South. The Ramblers lead going into halftime but fell behind in the third quarter and could not recover eventually losing 47-36.

Despite the loss, Ramblers’ coach Tom Livatino was upbeat. “It felt normal in an abnormal time. I always thought we would play. It was all good. It was so phenomenal to be back.

As for the game Livatino said, “[a]n inexperienced team lost to an experienced team. That’s what happened. All credit to Maine South. We have a long way to go. We haven’t had a practices to iron the kinks out. We have chosen to play games. I guarantee that we will get better.”

And he was right. After two postponed games, the Rambler hosted #13 ranked St. Ignatius on Feb. 11. The Ramblers edged the Wolfpack 34-31 winning the Jesuit Cup (both schools are run by the Society of Jesus order of Catholic priests).

The Ramblers replaced their Feb. 12 game postponed game against St. Joseph with a game against Glenbrook North.

It’s a strange season. The schedule is fluid. Teams are just going to play as games work through issues during games. With no playoffs, postponed and cancelled games on a daily basis, we should all just enjoy any game we can see. For most fans, that will have to be through a live stream. Most schools are making such arrangements. Check school websites and social media for live stream information.

DePaul Prep v. Loyola CCL Blue Showdown Preview

Frequent viewers to this channel will recall that I have this practice of breaking the basketball season into parts; early season Thanksgiving games; Christmas Tournament, Chicago Catholic League play and IHSA Playoffs.

We are at the end part three and the CCL title is on the line. The annual showdown against rival Loyola Academy Ramblers and then the pesky and always dangerous St. Ignatius Wolfpack.

Loyola comes into tonight’s game against DePaul Prep atop the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division with 24-4 overall record and 12-1 conference record, ranked #20 in Sun-Times Super 25. Our Rams are ranked at #19 with 21-4 overall and 11-2 in the CCL.

The Ramblers are always tough. Tom Livatino’s teams are skilled and disciplined. They always give me fits. I always have an pit in stomach in advance of those games, no matter the records, no matter the stakes. The stakes are high today. And so is my anxiety.

Pat Mahoney expressed confidence last night at the girls sectional semi-final victory stating that he thought DePaul would beat Loyola tonight. His confidence did little to relieve my trepidation. I pretty much have to think our Rams are the underdog.

It would be a huge win if the Rams can find a way to win, giving them a share of the CCL Blue title with Loyola and Fenwick (assuming a victory over St. Ignatius, you’ll have to indulge here). A victory would also give the DePaul Prep two CCL titles in a row.

The Chicago Catholic League Championship is what I like to see. My dad used to talk about winning the Catholic League. He attended the long-ago closed St. Phillip High School on the west side. St. Phillip won the CCL in 1945 after my dad graduated and while he was in Europe during WWII. Before that they won a few times and he talked about it a lot. His high school winning the Catholic League was a big deal for him. And so it has become with me.

The third part of the season basically ends tonight with a deciding game in the CCL Blue. The Sun-Times identified this game as a key game of the season in a season preview. For me, as accomplishments go, winning the Chicago Catholic League and then win the state championship are the top goals. It all builds up to tonight’s game.

Go Rams.

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