The following are posts related to specific shoots. And other things that I cannot stop myself from writing about.
The DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Notre Dame Dons (16-18) 46-16 last night in the St. Viator 3A Sectionals semi-final. The Rams advance to play the Lake Forest Scouts on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the sectional final.
Lake Forest handled a scrappy if undersized Ridgewood Rebels squad 59-32 in last night’s second game.
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.
The Lane Tech Champions (17-11, 7-2) hosted reigning IHSA 3A runner-up Simeon Wolverines (14-13, 6-2) in the Chicago Public League quarter-final at Lane Tech on Wednesday. The Champions defeated Whitney Young for the first time in memory on January 24th, could Simeon be next?
None of the Lane Tech fans wanted talk about such a thing as they waited for the Wolverines to arrive at Lane. Lane Tech defeated Perspective ITT and Crane to move up to the CPL playoffs’ quarterfinal and the chance to defeat Simeon. Simeon defeated Dunbar and Brooks and would have to travel up to the Northside to take on Lane.
This is not your father’s Simeon Wolverines. Not even your brothers. Legendary Simeon basketball coach Robert Smith is enjoying his first year of retirement. Last year’s Rubin brothers have moved onto division one college basketball.
Smith’s long time understudy Tim Flowers is at the helm of the Wolverines this year. Flower’s 2023-24 Wolverines start one returning player, Rashad “RJ” McKinnie and four talented but inexperienced sophomores Lorenzo Shields, Kassidy Nelson, Jocahana Pullum and Andre Taylor.
Lane played right with the Wolverines in the first quarter. Lane’s junior center Dalton Scantlebury had 5 points and senior guard Shadeed Solebo had 5 but the Champions trailed 16-14.
The second quarter began to show the Champions weaknesses. If Lane was going to come up with another huge win in this winning season, they would need not only big games from Scantlebury and Solebo, they would need their outside shooters Brandon Labkon and [name redacted] to drain some threes. No threes in the first half for the Champions. Simeon opened a 31-21 lead at the half.
Not much better for the Champions in the third quarter. They were making foul shots and working the boards very well against the young Simeon squad but still trailed by nine at the end of the third. Simeon’s senior leader RJ McKinnie was playing lights with 14 points in the first half and finished with a game high 22 points.
Nick LoGalbo’s Champions never quit. Seven unanswered points by the Lane got them right back in it midway through the fourth quarter. The Champions trailed by only four points and had all the momentum. Simeon was not done. They added free throws at the end keep their lead. Lane’s [name redacted] and Brandon Labkon added a couple huge buckets after Shaheed Solebo fouled out. The Champions trailed but three in the final seconds and had the ball after a critical Simeon turnover.
It was not to be. A miss and a turnover robbed the Champions of a chance to tie.
It was an emotional win for the Simeon Wolverines who have struggled at time this season.
“It’s been a big road for me. Last year I played with all seniors. It was easy. But this year I have to be more of a leader and lead the younger kids. It’s hard [to take that on]. Everybody wants to beat Simeon,” said Simeon senior guard RJ McKinnie.
Simeon moved on to play Curie in the City Championship semi-final on Thursday but lost to top seed Curie Condors 75-51.
McKinnie lead all scorers with 22. Lane’s Dalton Scantlebury had 15 and Brandon Labkon 14
Before the season started, I made a list of my goals for the basketball season. The season is quickly drawing to a close. Just a few games left in the regular season. It has flown by.
In looking back at my goals, I have done a pretty good job achieving them. One part I did not get to was covering Payton and Lincoln Park. I also did not get a story about a girls’ game published. I tried to do those things. There just was not enough time among to press of other matters.
Several years ago, I wrote that the season was four three different parts. Thanksgiving to Christmas, Christmas, regular season in January and February and finally playoffs. That is a little different for me now. It’s more like there are two different seasons going on at the same time: tournaments and shootouts and League games.
The tournaments and shootouts are about seeing how good one’s team is and getting ready for the league games and the playoffs.
The league games are the ones that matter. The playoffs are, well, the playoffs. The first rule of fight club (playoffs) is you do not talk about fight club (playoffs). Until the playoffs. Even so, I have spent a lot of time studying the sectional assignments evaluating the various paths of many teams through the playoffs. But I will not speculate about that here.
I ought to have stopped to reflect on the season before this point. I might have enjoyed the season more had I done so. I have enjoyed the work of it. I have enjoyed getting better, and faster, as a writer. I still need to keep working on getting better as a photographer. I have concentrated more on the writing because that needed a lot more work.
With the photography, I have scaled back on taking, processing and publishing so many photos. I have tried to take better photos. Photos that I find interesting. I have tried, and mostly failed, to get at least one Kirsten Stickney signature reaction shot. It eludes me. I will keep trying.
I have enjoyed the season very much. It’s been great fun watching a team have some much success but not let it go to their heads. Somehow, they are remarkable grounded. Not really impressed with themselves. Not at all upset about a lack of sufficient recognition. They are just playing the games on the schedule and having fun doing it.
So here we are, the last few games of the season. Then the playoffs. Crunch time. Strangely, I am not the least bit nervous. I am just looking forward to seeing what happens. Let’s go.
The IC Catholic Prep Knights traveled into Chicago to take on the DePaul Prep Rams in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Knights didn’t have enough. The Rams jumped out to an early lead and stayed away getting the underclassmen into the game late. Rams 67, Knights 21.
The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Leo Friday night 62-23 at home. It was senior night. The school also honored academic standouts and hosted a faculty appreciation night. The full house saw the Rams hitting on all cylinders with significant contributions from deep into the bench.
The Rams improve their record to a previously unattained 21-2 overall and 4-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. Certainly the best record that I have seen more than two-thirds of the way through a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech season. Maybe not the toughest but the most important part of the season lies ahead—key Chicago Catholic League matchups.
The Rams have IC Catholic Providence, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, Mount Carmel and Fenwick left to play. Plus today’s game against Wisconsin powerhouse Peewaukee and the regular season finale against Benet.
One game at a time.
Preview of my story this week in Inside-Booster.
The biggest win for Lane Tech in decades. The Lane Tech Champions (14-10, 7-2) defeated the Whitney Young Dolphins (12-10, 5-2) 67-51 in a jam-packed crosstown rivalry and conference showdown. No one could remember the last time Lane defeated Young. One would never have known that from the energy in Lane’s gym. Two overflowing student sections and the rest of the gym packed with spectators were rocking at a deafening pitch from before the game even started.
Lane’s senior shooting guard Shaheed Solebo was the story of the first half. He had 11 of the Champions’ 14 first quarter points and kept it up with 11 more points in the second quarter.
“[Shaheed’s] been on a run the last two weeks. He put on a show Monday [against Lincoln Park,] said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo. Lincoln Park (17-8, 6-3) was ranked #15 coming out of the holiday tournaments but that Champions dropped Lincoln Park 75-64 in the Lion’s tiny (and poorly lit) gym.
“He knew what this game was. He battled and battled the entire game. He was super aggressive for us. He made the kicks when he needed to. He commanded so much attention, it opened things up for other guys especially in the second half. He was awesome,” LoGalbo said of Solebo.
Solebo knew what this game was and was determined to beat Whitney Young in his last try at them. This game had more intensity a playoff game. It was personal. The two student sections cheered back and forth at each other. The Champions and their fans were sick of losing to Whitney Young and this was the night to end it. The players were focused but a little tight to open the game missing usually makable shots.
“We had high expectations coming in. We had a preseason ranking which did wonders for our team’s ego. We struggled through injuries. We really didn’t have our team the whole month of December with Dalton being out,” LoGalbo said.
The Champions and their big man in the middle, junior center Dalton Scantlebury, did a great job limiting Whitney Young to one shot in the first half.
“That’s been an all-season struggle. I was really impressed with the way we rebounded as a team. We have struggled this season boxing out as a unit. I get a majority of our rebounds so sometimes other people lag a little. Today we all really come together,” Scantlebury said.
Despite the Solebo’s huge first half, Lane went into halftime only up 31-26. Halftime adjustments by Whitney Young’s legendary coach Tyrone Slaughter might spell disaster for the Champions who might struggle to keep up their intensity in the second half.
“Dalton came out a little flat. He missed some [shots] that he has been putting in for us pretty consistently,” LoGalbo said of Scantlebury.
Scantlebury proved his place as a top public league player in the second half. Dalton dropped a three-point play inside early in the third quarter freeing up Solebo to keep up his scoring.
“Best one-two punch in the City when those two guys are playing well together,” LoGalbo said about Solebo and Scantlebury.
The second half was not all Solebo and Scantlebury. Timely open three-pointers from senior guard [name redacted] and senior guard Jackson Labkon took the life out of any third quarter comeback by the Dolphins. Junior guard Kenneth Rosario added a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter.
Even so, the Dolphins were hanging around keeping the Champions’ lead under ten points.
“We had [the lead] to ten or eleven and just didn’t turn the corner until the fourth quarter. That is a sign of what we are still trying to prove. If we are going to be the team we say we want to be we have got to smell the blood in the water and put them away,” LoGalbo said after the game.
This was Lane’s night. The energy in the gym never dissipated. There would be no let down. Good teams finish. And that’s what these Champions did.
“We felt like let’s get into our delay game then they will start fouling. We will get some easy ones at the line. At about thirty seconds, we would run our stuff. If it is not there on the back door, let’s just reset. And that’s what we did. One time we got in the set and we scored. The other times we got a few back doors and it worked out,” said LoGalbo.
The last points were scored by Whitney Young with 1:18 left in the game. They would get no closer with the final score 67-51. It was a convincing win for Lane over Whitney Young. One that was decades in the making.
Even with the contributions of Scantlebury and timely threes by Labkon and Rosario, make no mistake, it was the force of will and the 34 points by senior standout Shaheed Solebo that brought home the historic victory to Lane. His presence, production and leadership on the floor made the difference.
“We knew how good we were since last Spring. We knew it. Now we are just showing everybody else,” said Shaheed Solebo.
The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 47-43 on Thursday evening at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym. Huge win for the Rams who haven’t beaten St. Ignatius in a long time. I concentrated on taking the photos so there is not much of a game recap.
Kenwood led 28-24 at halftime only to be outscored 28-4 in the third quarter. I don’t know what’s happened to Kenwood but they look like a whole different team from the one I saw play Thornton at the Chicago Elite Classic.
These are the photos. Curie’s gym is a great place to photograph a game. The light is pretty good. The gym in colorful. And otherwise a great atmosphere.
In the first game of the fifth annual Steve Pappas Shootout at DePaul Prep, the Loyola Ramblers defeated the Glenbrook North Spartans 48-38. The Spartans, coming off a big win over New Trier last night, ran into a hot shooting Ramblers team that was ready to play.
Friday was a full day. First a morning trip down to Pontiac for two games then a quick trip back to Hinsdale for two more games.
Benet (14-1, 6-0) defeated OPRF (5-7, 0-2) 60-48 in the third game on Friday. The Redwings have since advanced to the Pontiac championship game by virtue of an overtime 59-58 victory over Bloom on Saturday only to lose later in the day in another overtime game to Curie 69-66 and finish second in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
Previously unbeaten and ninth ranked Benet certainly proved that is team, largely made up of sophomore, is an elite team that will surely rise in the rankings given its showing at Pontiac.
These are a few photos from the game.
I just love the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. The people like watching the basketball games. Everyone is friendly. The food is good. It’s easy and comfortable.
I wasn’t planning to go to Pontiac this year because I don’t really have a team to cover. But I went anyway. Simeon and Benet were playing early in the day which game me time to get back to Hinsdale to cover the Brother Rice and DePaul Prep games in the evening.
I am really glad I did. I just love going to Pontiac. (And I also recommend stopping at the World War II Museum when you are down there. It is very interesting.)
The Simeon Wolverines were battling Bloom but after Rashad McKinnie left the game with a shoulder injury they couldn’t keep up. Bloom ended up winning 45-39.
I was sitting next to this older lady from Pontiac who quite energetically routing for the Wolverines. I kind of like that. I was too shy to ask her why. I cheer for Simeon too because of Simeon’s former coach Robert Smith.
So now I have a new friend in Pontiac.
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.
After the Lane v. Chaminade game, I left for the Tom Winiecki Gym. Six minutes later I arrrived just after the second half of the DePaul Prep v. Taft game started. The game was tied. Both teams were running and gunning. A fast paced game.
In the fourth, the Rams defense got a bunch of stops. On the other end the Rams finished layups and free throws to build a lead and they won the game 50-38. An impressive finish against a talented Taft squad.
The Rams move on to the Loyola Christmas tournament next week.
Merry Christmas basketball fans!
Preview of my article in the Inside Booster:
The Lane Tech Champions (8-4, 3-1) found their way back, back from an early season injury to a key player and back from twelve-point deficit at the end of the first quarter. The Champion defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack (6-6, 0-2) 57-51 at St. Ignatius on Tuesday.
If there can be an important game early in season, this one sure felt like one. Both the Wolfpack and the Champions opened the season as ranked teams, #10 and #20 respectively. Both have lost their ranking after losing some games.
A win for the Wolfpack against a quality opponent such as Lane would stop their slide after a brutally difficult opening season schedule resulted in five losses to ranked teams.
A win for the Champions would bring them back from a couple losses, including an unexpected conference loss to Payton College Prep, and the absence for key contributor junior center Dalton Scantlebury. Scantlebury suffered a foot injury prior to the Payton game and has missed a few games.
The Wolfpack opened the game looking like a top ten team. The 13-0 scoring run on the Champions at the end of the first quarter made the game appear that it might not be close and the loss of Scantlebury might mean more than it was hoped. 18-6 Wolfpack at the end of the first quarter.
Lane Tech did not panic. Too well coached for that. They started playing defense. Funny how when a team starts playing defense, their shots start to fall. The Champions put together a run of their own. 25-21 St. Ignatius at the half.
Back and forth through the third and into the fourth. With time ticking down late in the fourth quarter, big players come up big. Lane’s senior Shaheed Solebo, who is considered one of the top players in the class of 2024, poured in two three-pointers from the baseline that landed like bombs erupting in the gym and put the Champions ahead for good. The Wolfpack continued to battle with plenty of time left to get the lead back but only managed three more points. The Champions made their free throws and won 51-51.
“Something just turned on. I knew we needed to win the game. Those threes might be the best [three-pointers] I have’ve had all season. I was ready to shoot. I knew those were going in,” Solebo said of the three-pointers.
Of the defensive gem pitched by the Champion, Solebo said, “Coming out after the half, we knew that stops (pointless possessions by St. Ignatius) would win us the game. We knew they were overloading the weakside. We started talking more. We started calling out screens and switching more. We played more aggressive with hands up. We just locked in on defense.”
“It’s a big win, a team in our sectional, great program. We talked about just trying to find our identity. Dalton [Scantlebury] was such a big part of our identity early for the first six games. Now we have had six games without him. We’ve had some guys step up and do different things for us. Zack [Mazanowski] who is a wing plays [center]. Dylan [Pepper] who’s a wing plays [center,]” Lane head coach Nick LoGalbo said after the game.
Big win for sure but the season is just beginning. The Champions will face St. Louis, Missouri powerhouse basketball program Chaminade College Prep next.
“Frank Bennett, [Chaminade’s] head coach, and I coached in USA Basketball Nike Hoops Summit this past spring. We have run camps together in USA Basketball for years. We are two very like-minded individuals. We have been talking about doing this for a while. We finally got it in the books. We are going to see them next year,” said LoGalbo.
Then onto the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic for the Champions. This will be the first appearance at Hinsdale where they could face a rematch with neighbor and newfound rival, DePaul Prep Rams on Friday, December 29.
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.
That was a bad a first half as I have seen a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech girls varsity team play. Turnovers, traveling, fouls, missed shots, no rebounds, you name it. Somehow, by the grace of the Almighty, they were only down 24-17.
Whatever the DePaul Prep Rams coach Sarah Zarymbski said to her team at halftime, she should write down and sell it.
It worked. The Rams were a whole new team in second half. The energy was 100% better. The started playing defense. They got most of the rebounds offensive and defensive. They starting shooting. The shots started falling. They all but erased the deficit in the third quarter. Down 31-30 entering the final frame.
The fourth quarter was back and forth. Trinity is good. No quit in the Blazers.
The Rams had the ball after a time out with 42.9 to play and the score tied. Moving the ball around looking for a shot with the clock running down, junior guard Maliah Wood got the ball. Square to the basket lining up the three-pointer, she finished the half the way she started it—a three-pointer that was never in doubt. Nothing but net.
Eight seconds on clock. Curiously, down 50-47, the Blazers moved the ball into the paint for a two point bucket. Even so the shot did not fall. Rams come back from a terrible first half to win 50-47.
The Vikings hung around and hung around and hung around. When that happens, you know what happens. This time it was overtime but the Marist Redhawks survived 49-44.
The St. Ignatius Wolfpack (4-2, 0-0) lost to the Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs (5-1, 1-0) 50-49 at the Chicago Elite Classic Saturday afternoon.
The Wolfpack just could not buy a bucket at the end after going back and forth with the Bulldogs all game. The Wolfpack pushed their lead to seven points with less than three minutes to play. And that would be it. The Bulldogs rallied to score the last eight points and win the game.
“We had a couple of good shots that did not go in. A couple of missed layups but also we were very inconsistent with how we share the basketball. We don’t screen off the ball consistently. When you have lapses in those two areas, you make it a lot harder on yourself to win,” said the St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe.
“Mike Reingruber is a great coach. Certainly they made adjustments but I felt that it was us being inconsistent.”
“Like coach said, if we didn’t have lapses and screen off the ball, sharing the ball consistently, we would have had a bigger run,” added Reggie Ray, St. Ignatius senior guard who finished with nine points.
They were too hard on themselves. R-B 6’11” senior center had late blocks under the basket that stopped the Wolfpack. The defense of R-B and rebounds at the end won the game. That and scoring the final eight points of the game.
St. Ignatius moves on to Catholic League play with St. Francis De Sales, Loyola Academy and Aurora Central Catholic before Christmas, plus a side trip to play Homewood-Flossmoor at the Team Rose Shootout.
“Winning the Catholic League Blue is probably the toughest thing any one team can do in the State of Illinois,” added Monroe.
“We are looking forward to the challenge. We are happy to be amongst the best. We are also one of the best. Certainly every game is a learning experience. We are looking forward to that competition. Playing against the best brings out the best in you. It’s a tough slate of games. I know these guys have everything it takes.”
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.
