Lincoln Williams and EJ Hazelett are two of the best high school basketball players I have ever seen, certainly this year.
And the Rams beat them. By seven points. Even though the Rams uncharacteristically got in a little foul trouble, they beat Kankakee in a similar fashion to the way they usually win—ball security, tough switching defense, free throws and taking time off the clock at the end.
Twenty-one points including fourteen free throws for Rams’ senior guard Rykan Woo. Eleven straight free throws in the first half by Woo blunted the physical smackdown Kankakee was trying to put on the Rams. I only remember Rykan missing one free throw.
Woo was ebullient after the game. “I am confident in myself. I know what I am capable of doing. I have played at the highest level. State championship games. Played on the UAA circuit. It prepared me,” Rykan said.
When asked about the No. 1 ranking, “practice is all we focus on. Having good practices and stacking them. That’s all we focus on,” Woo said.
“We are a physical team too. We are not going to back down in a fight.”
Free throw shooting was the difference in the game. “We were 25 of 28 from the line. That’s what won the game for us,” Rams’ coach Tom Kleinschmidt confirmed.
“We wanted to make sure that [Kankakee’s Lincoln] Williams saw two. Meaning we tagged him and when he went to drive we came early and doubled him. Hazelett we didn’t do it as much on. We figured we had to give something up. Williams is averaging 32 a game in his last four games so made him work and I think it showed,” said Kleinschmidt.
Some others have said that the result might have been different with a shot clock. I am not so sure about that. DePaul has played with a shot clock and still won.
It’s early in the season. There is a long way to go. Boy has it been entertaining. One big game after another. And next No. 6 St. Ignatius and then Pontiac after that. (I shouldn’t look past St. Francis de Sales but I am not too worried.)
We will just have to work through the schedule and see what happens at the end of the year. But, honestly, the possibility of four straight state championships never quite goes away. Part of me wants to enjoy this thing in real time, or appreciate it at least. So I will indulge myself, but only a little.
St. Francis de Sales tonight at the Tom Winiecki Gym.
