[Preview of this week’s story in Inside—Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
The Benet Redwings defeated the DePaul Prep Rams 52-43 to win the 94th Annual Pontiac Holiday Tournament Wednesday night. The top ranked Rams (14-2, 3-0) have held the No. 1 spot since the pre-season. That is likely to change with the lost to the seventh ranked Benet Redwings (17-1).
The Rams got out to an uncharacteristically slow start down 12-2 late in the first quarter and trailed 20-18 at the half. The unusual aspect of Pontiac’s tournament is that the semi-final and the final are the same day. The Rams played New Trier at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and then Benet a little after 9:00 p.m.
The Rams also struggled early against New Trier but were able to turn it around in the second half with an impressive defensive effort holding the Trevians to eight points in the third quarter finishing with a 50-36 win.
The Trevians concentrated on stopping the Rams senior big man and Toledo University commit Lashaun Porter with double and triple teams. The Trevians may have slowed down Porter holding him to fifteen points, but they had no answer for the Rams other offensive star, senior shooting guard Rykan Woo. Rykan who finished with nineteen.
Benet matched up better against DePaul Prep than New Trier did. The Redwings senior center 7’0” Colin Stack defended Porter and the Redwings’ senior guard and eventual A. C. Williamson (MVP) award winner Jayden Wright was never more than a couple feet from Rykan Woo during the entire game.
“That’s normal. We’re used to it. He’s used to it. That’s how he’s always guarded,” said DePrep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt. Certainly so. Everyone tries to stop Rykan. Wright and the whole Benet squad were just more successful at it holding Rykan to eight points on the game after a couple early foul calls on Woo.
Woo complimented Benet’s defense. “It’s a good team. Good defense. Good players. High level competition. That’s what happens. The better defenders get close to you.
It wasn’t just the defensive effort against Woo that helped with the Benet win; it was the play of, some might say, emergence of Benet’s junior forward Edvards Stasys.
“Stasys is a great player, a great rebounder. There’s not a whole lot you can do to contain him,” said Rykan Woo. Stasys had fourteen points and ten rebounds including two big buckets as the Rams got in striking distance late in the fourth.
Not to be overlooked was the stellar play of Rams’ point guard senior AJ Chambers who finished with fifteen points. Benet’s Colin Stack 15 points and four rebounds but eight of those points came late in the game when then Rams went to a press defense.
It’s hard to quantify, but this reporter thinks that the playing for a Pontiac win for Coach Heidkamp had something to do with the win. The Benet team made a point of handing the Pontiac championship trophy to Heidkamp after he initially demurred from holding the trophy. His victory first victory in six championship games was clearly on the minds of his team.
After the game, Kleinschmidt was upbeat, “I feel good. We lost to a top 20 [nationally ranked] team,” referring to the Rams’ lost to La Lumiere at the Chicago Elite Classic.
“We lost to the No. 1 team in the state coming tomorrow morning. We don’t blink at that,” Kleinschmidt added.
Kleinschmidt may prefer not hold the No. 1 ranking at this point. With the balance of the Chicago Catholic League schedule ahead and games against highly ranked opponents Marist and Warren still on the schedule, the Rams have plenty of work to do before the IHSA 4A playoffs begin at the end of February without the No. 1 team distraction.
Interestingly, with the way the sectional assignments line-up, the Pontiac championship game might just be a preview of the 4A title game. But we a half of a season away from that.
