Lane Falls to St. Ignatius 66-60 at Chicago Elite Classic

[A preview of this week’s article in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech Champions (2-3) have had a rough start. They came up short 66-60 on Friday against #11 St. Ignatius at the Chicago Elite Classic at UIC’s Credit One Arena. In their first five games, the Champions have faced five ranked teams, #4 DePaul Prep, #11 St. a Ignatius, #18 Niles North, who they beat, and #21 Curie.

“I have a lot of faith in this team. This is the best team I think with have had at Lane. It would be great being 5-0 here on December 6th, but we want to be ready in March,” Lane Tech Champions head coach Nick LoGalbo said of his tough schedule.

“This team has a chance to do some special things. We lost three heartbreakers. Curie was a last second shot. We have got to put some games together now,” LoGalbo continued.

Much is said about win/loss records. Should a team pile up wins or is it better to put tough teams on one’s schedule? Fans like a gaudy win loss record but coaches know it’s better to have faced tough competition when hiding into the IHSA playoffs in March.

LoGalbo is confident about his team in large part because of the team’s “length”—a reference to the size of his players and their ability of his defenders to force outside shots.

“They have a ton of length. That’s one of their many strengths,” said St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe regarding Lane.

“We wanted to hunt good shots. We couldn’t just one pass and shoot a three because they were going to have a guy right there. We needed to get our shooters open and get their lengthy guys away from our shooters by driving and kicking,” Monroe continued.

“We talked a little bit about trying to navigate their length, to finish off two feeds, shot fake around the rim, if you don’t get them to bite then kick it out to the shooters. That played a big role in our open shots in the second half.”

And that’s largely what happened. Just a few points separated the teams throughout the first half as the teams traded buckets. But in the second half, the drive-kick-pass-shoot offense of St. Ignatius installed resulted in seven three-point field goals.

“They shot 50% from three. We had two tough teams that know each other exceptionally well. They know what we are going to run. We know what they are going to run. They did a good job of taking us out of some of the things we wanted to do. We made some adjustments and we were getting some clean looks. But at the end of the day, we made some bonehead mistakes,” LoGalbo lamented.

The Champions move on into Chicago Public League play with upcoming games against Westinghouse, Kenwood, Clarke and a rematch against Phillips. Lane also travels next weekend to Washington D.C., to play in the Gonzaga high school tournament. This is more of the boot camp to get ready for the March state title run.

The Chicago Elite Classic is a high school basketball “shootout” organized and hosted by legendary CPS high school coaches Tyrone Slaughter and retired Simeon coach Robert Smith. Top teams from the Chicago area are invited play other top teams. Also invited are top teams from around the country. This year, those teams are Mater Dei from Los Angeles, Chaminade from Missouri and Duncanville from Texas.

DePaul Prep Season So Far, What's Next?

Ten games into the 2019-2020 season so far and the DePaul Prep Rams sport an impressive 9-1 overall record and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams only loss was to #3 ranked Notre Dame. At this point last year, the Rams had an identical record with their only loss being to Benet Academy.

On the eve of the second phase of the season, the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, the Rams record is not entirely unexpected given the schedule so far. But I am particularly impressed with how the Rams have won. They have not played like a young team making a lot of mistakes. They rarely trail in games. They just go about their business and methodically take down opponents. Not flashy. Not frantic. Businesslike, steady and determined.

Tyler Johnson has stepped up as the team’s main scorer. And score he does. I don’t have exact stats (which is a weakness of this report but I can’t take photos and keep stats). Tyler must be averaging over 20 points a game. Lance Mosley is solid as a rock in terms of points, defense and rebounds. His three point shooting propelled the Rams to victory against Leo on Friday.

Rasheed Bello has impressed as well. I didn’t get to sophomore games last year. I heard he was good and that the coaches were very high on him, but I hadn’t seen him. I have seen him now. There was a moment in the Providence game early in the third quarter when the Rams were in the midst of a 22-0 run, with the game well in hand and the Rams in no real danger of losing, when I saw Rasheed Bello take off done the court trying to get back on defense as if his life depended on it. He was playing as hard as he could with the game well in hand—extra effort that one might expect at the end of an important game, late in the season.

I ought not have started writing about individual players. I don’t have the ink to write about every player. My leaving out the others is no reflection on them. It’s more of a reflection of the amateurishness of this blog. But I will say that the whole team shows a maturity that belies its tender years. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming phases, we have the Christmas tournament, the CCL schedule and then the 3A playoffs. I know I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, but that is what I do here. I indulge in the foolish luxury of playing out the season in my head and examining the possibilities.

The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic is a good tournament. It’s well run and spectator friendly. (There is no media room with tables to work at but that’s a problem for only a few geeks like me—but a problem nonetheless that ought to be addressed!) The field is large with a couple ranked teams, DePaul, Marian Catholic, Stevenson. St. Rita, also. The Rams have made it into the final four of the tournament that last couple years, falling to eventual champion St. Rita in the semi-final in 2017 and Marian Catholic last year.

Joe Henricksen just published his holiday tournament preview basically suggesting anyone of the ranked teams, Stevenson, Marian Catholic or DePaul Prep could win. He also wrote some complimentary words about Tyler Johnson. The HCHC will be another test for the Rams.
As the bracket lines up, the Rams face Richards tomorrow night, then probably home team Hinsdale Central or Westinghouse on Thursday evening. If they get past those teams, they will have #8 ranked Marian Catholic (7-2, 1-1) on Friday night at 8:30. That will be tough. I saw Notre Dame handle Marian Catholic. Given they way the Rams played Notre Dame, I don’t see any reason to be too afraid of Marian Catholic. Get past Marian and you’re looking at #18 Stevenson or #9 Homewood-Flossmoor. Definitely doable but quite a feat if done.

Then the bulk of the season comes after the tournaments. Fourteen games in January and February including tough non-conference games against Deerfield, Peoria Manual and Benet. At the end, come the all-import Chicago Catholic League deciding games against Fenwick, Loyola and St. Ignatius. I have to think there will be a couple upsets in conference play and the top teams will come into the final games with at least one loss each leaving the head-to-head matchups to decide the League champ. It seems to always come down to beating Loyola, Fenwick and St. Ignatius. Achieving an accomplishment like winning the Catholic League is hard. Winning the Catholic League has been the goal of the season to me. When I was a kid I remember my dad talking this his school, St. Phillip, now long closed, playing in the Catholic League. It meant something him even as an old man. I have written it before and I will write it again, “First things first; win the Catholic League.”

I am not going to preview the playoffs with two thirds of the season to play. That day will come. And sooner than I would like. Only seventy-three days left in the season. Enjoy them while they last.

And as always, Go Rams.  

Lane Tech Falls to Westinghouse 20-7

What looked to be a blowout by Westinghouse in the first few minutes turned into an exciting defensive struggle. Lane Tech couldn’t make up for early miscues and falls to Westinghouse Friday afternoon (Sept. 20, 2019) 20-7.

On Westinghouse’s first offensive play from scrimmage the tailback went up the middle for about a fifty yard touchdown run. Westinghouse then stopped the Indians and blocked a punt. Westinghouse picked up the blocked punt and ran it in for a touchdown.

Just that fast Lane was behind 12-0.

To their credit there was no quit. What could have turned into a rout, didn’t. The Indians defense stiffened. The offence put together a nice drive and it was 20-7 at the half.

There it would remain. A defensive struggle broke out in the second have. Lane moved the ball on a couple late drives only to turn the over deep in Westinghouse territory. Westinghouse held the ball and ran out the clock.

Lane Tech drops to 2-2 on the season and will face Lincoln Park at home next Thursday evening at 7:15.