Some Thoughts on When Sides Collide

First. It’s really fun. The gym is packed with basketball fans. The fans stay and watch all the games. There are student sections with lots of students. As one might imagine, it was mostly Benet and Neuqua Valley students, but there were quite a few Warren students too. It just adds energy to the room.

Second. Great line up of games. Joe Henricksen does a great just divining which teams will be good and what will be good matchups.

Third. I got to see teams and players that I don’t usually cover. I have seen Jaxson Davis a couple times this year. Same with Brady Pettigrew. One just can’t get enough of these top players. This was my first look at Neuqua Valley and the Cole Kelly and Mason Martin combo platter. They did not disappoint.

Last. There are only four games. There is time between the games to catch ones breath, go to the mens’ room and grab a hot dog. (The hot dogs are quite good actually.) I could get a little work done between games, at least upload some photos.

See you next year, God willing.

DePaul Prep Defeats Marist 59-43 at When Sides Collide

People are sitting around waiting for the Rams to lose but they keep winning. The penultimate game at this year’s When Sides Collide shootout at Benet featured the No. 2 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (20-3, 6-0) against the No. 7 ranked Marist Red Hawks (19-3, 2-0). This game and the following game between Benet and Warren might have resulted in a shakeup of the rankings and impact on the upcoming seeding for the 4A state playoffs.  

Had Marist taken down DePaul Prep and Warren overcome Benet No. 1 and No. 2 would have to be replaced. There was actually very little explicit discussion about such a scenario before the games amongst the collected observers, but it was obviously on everyone’s mind.

Maybe it’s just a yearning to see an underdog win or perhaps just a boredom with stagnant rankings and storylines that fuels such thoughts. DePaul Prep and Benet would have none of it. The Rams and Redwings put up convincing wins in the face of tough challenges.

The Marist Red Hawks opened the season at No. 4 and have moved between three and seven ever since. The Red Hawks, a skilled veteran group, have run through their schedule including wins over No. 10 Evanston and Brother Rice. Top ESCC matchups against St. Patrick and Benet have yet to be played.

The Rams however, have fought through a formidable schedule with their only losses coming at the hands of No. 1 Benet in the Pontiac Championship game, national powerhouse La Lumiere in the Chicago Elite Classic and Arlington, Virginia’s Bishop O’Connell, in their own Pappas Shootout in overtime. The Rams opened the season at No. 1 and dropped to No. 2 after the loss to Benet.

There was a little controversy, at least in my head, about the point total for DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo. I am a little sensitive about this since I initially misreported Woo’s point total after the Mount Carmel game. I had him with 26 points including four three-pointers. Another guy had him with 24 so that is what I reported. Matt Now also had him with 26. I went back and added up my totals again and it shows 26. That’s what I am going with—26.

It was a close game until the Rams broke it open in the fourth quarter with five inside points and free throws by senior forward Rashaun Porter and, of course, 13 of Woo’s 26 points including 3 three-point coffin nails in the final couple minutes. Rams 59, Red Hawks 43.

Seven games left for the Rams. First and foremost are Brother Rice and St. Laurence to salt away the Chicago Catholic League. Then Deerfield, Christ the King, IC, Warren, and finally Ridgewood.

No. 6. Warren will be an obvious challenge with the best player in the state, Jaxson Davis. This could be a preview of a state final game but the seedings will be out by then so it won’t affect that. A final tune-up to a four-peat.

If the past is any guide, the Rams will finish. Champions finish.

DePaul Prep falls to Providence 66-60

The DePaul Prep Rams girls’ varsity fell 66-60 to GCAC rival powerhouse Providence Catholic (22-3, 5-2) on Tuesday. These are two of the top girls teams in the area. The Rams are ranked No. 9 in Kyle Williams Super 25 in the Sun-Times. Providence is ranked No. 12.

The Rams fell behind 9-0 to open the contest but battled all the way take a 31-29 lead at the close of the second quarter on Ava Giordano’s three-point.

This was very high level basketball. It was a back-and-forth affair. I wish I had the bandwidth to properly cover the GCAC. Providence has these two sisters, Layken Callahan and Landrie Callahan who made life very tough on the Rams.  

Even so, the game was tied at 56 with 2:44 left. The Celtics edged that Rams in the final minute holding off the Rams’ comeback.

The Rams historic regular season continues with Simeon on Saturday and then the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference tournament next week where the Rams have a change to avenge their defeats at the hands of other very high quality GCAC teams. It appears that both Friday’s home game against Taft and Saturday’s game against Simeon will not go ahead because of the cold. The DePaul Prep athletic director is working to reschedule the senior night game.

It’s been fun watching this senior starting group, Ava Giordano, Grace Lee, Kaitlin Totaro and Lucia Trautman, along with the addition of sophomore standout Ramiyah Puckett grow into an elite squad among the best in the state. They rival their counterparts on the boys team in that respect. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the work off the bench put in by sophomore Grace Poleski, seniors Kaitlin Reap and Vivian Lightfoot, and junior Caley Wood.

The Rams host a regional in the 4A Maine South Sectional. The seeds will not be announced until about 4 pm on Thursday, February 5th so will don’t know who they will face. Based on the assignments, the Rams are likely to be a 2 or 3 seed in the sectional.

DePaul Prep Defeats Lane 54-36 in National Women and Girls Sports Day Event

The seventh ranked DePaul Prep Rams girls basketball team (17-3) defeated the Lane Tech Champions 54-36 Saturday afternoon at Lane Tech’s National Women & Girls Day Event. It was a great event with many elementary school girls teams in attendance.

It was a very competitive game in the first quarter but the Champions had no answer for Rams star center Grace Lee who finished with 33 of the Rams 54 points. The Rams jumped ahead in the fourth quarter outscoring Lane 16-4.

The Rams have put together an historic season winning their first fifteen games under second year coach Corey Morgan. Interestingly, the DePaul Prep girls team has the same record, 17-3, as DePaul Prep’s reigning state champion boys teams.

The Rams have four games left in their regular season: Plainfield North, Providence (GCAC conference game), Taft and Simeon. DePaul Prep will host an IHSA 4A Regional playoff series. The move to 4A this year has landed the Rams is a very tough sectional which includes Loyola who the Rams lost to just ten days ago.  

DePaul Prep Defeats Fenwick 62-36

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

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep’s Rashaun Porter was back in the line-up Friday night lifting the Rams to a big 62-36 victory over Fenwick (8-10, 1-3). The Rams (17-3, 5-0) have been a little banged up lately. Rashaun Porter has been out sick a couple games.

“We were missing [Junior forward Zion] Lee tonight. Lee sat out [with a] sprained an ankle. Had Shaun [senior forward Rashaun Porter] back,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

“We got some valuable minutes for some guys in those Bishop O’Connell and DeLaSalle games. So they got some confidence. They got their wind where they are used to minutes. Now we are bringing back Shaun to get his wind back.”

Porter scored 16 of the Rams 36 first half points. Rams’ senior guard Rykan Woo opened the game with three straight three-point shots. Rams’ senior guard AJ Chambers 8 first half points. The Rams’ first quarter defense forced bad shots by Friars of which only two fell. It was a typical opening to a Rams game.

“I love the game of basketball. It felt great to be back with the guys and be able to play basketball again,” said Rashaun Porter.

“We are just going to take it one step at a time. Keep practicing. Keep prepping for each team. Not looking ahead of anybody. Play everybody the same way,” Porter said when asked about the Rams’ No. 2 ranking.

“We don’t really care about our ranking because everybody gonna have their own opinion on where they think DePaul Prep should be. As long as we take care of what we have to do on the court, I really don’t care what the ranking is,” Porter added.

The rest of the game fell into place as well. The Rams built a health 26-16 lead by half time and added to it in the third quarter. It was a chance to see the Rams deep bench show its stuff.

It’s good time for the Rams to get healthy and get back on track.

“It’s a big stretch, a big week for us. Notre Dame, Mount Carmel, Marist. We are really concerned or we’re really focused on Mount Carmel. We are really focused on the Catholic League now,” Kleinschmidt confessed.

“We’ve gotta beat Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is a tough place to play. They are the hottest team in the City right now. We respect them. Coach Segroves has done a great job. We’ve got to be prepared for them.”

Senior shooting guard Rykan Woo echoed the focus on winning the Chicago Catholic League.

“The Catholic League is the most important part of our season right now. It’s the only thing we are focused on. We are practicing. We are preparing. The coaches do a really great job preparing us for it,” Woo said.

The Rams season is just about two-thirds over with 20 of the 31 regular season games in the book. There is basically the final Catholic League games left against Mount Carmel, Brother Rice and St. Laurence and then a couple tough “shootout” games against ranked teams Marist and Warren Township before the IHSA 4A playoffs start in the middle of February.

St. Viator Takes on Alcott

After all these tournaments and shootouts, I feel like I have seen Curie a hundred times, and Benet, and Ignatius, and the rest of the top ten, not to mention the DePaul Prep Rams. So I was looking to see some teams I haven’t seen.

I haven’t seen St. Viator this year and I have heard some good things about the Lions from some commentators that saw them at Wheeling. I looked at Jack Gleason’s website, best website in America today, hsbball.com, and saw that the Lions were playing Alcott High School Tuesday evening.

I have been driving past Alcott High School at Wellington and Hoyne for decades. Frankly, I never really thought about its sports teams. It a little off the radar if not exactly off the map.

Alcott (1-11, 1-5) is in the Chicago Public League’s While North Division with teams such as Schurz, Uplift, Jones and Von Steuben. They don’t play at the school. They play at the Neighborhood Boys and Girls Club at the Lathrop homes. I was actually in that building once years and years ago but it was a polling place; no basketball that day.

Great light in that little gym even with two lights being out. The color of the light was pretty white and there was of it. Better than in many big time gyms.

Michael O’Keefe’s St. Viator Lions came into the game with a respectable 10-6 records and a young team. Only two seniors, juniors and a bunch of sophomores. It wasn’t a good game to judge the strength of the Lions. Frankly, the Wildcats only had eight players and struggled to compete. The difference was the shooting. The Lions were making shots inside and out. The Wildcats hurried shots very few of which fell for points.

I am glad I went. The kids, coaches and even the parents were there for the spirit of the game. Alcott had students and cheerleaders there. It was good because high school basketball can be just that. It doesn’t have to always be about winning state championships.

After the game, I drove up Clybourn a few blocks then up California to DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym for the DePaul Prep game Chicago Catholic League crossover game against Providence St. Mel.

Interesting shift to top high school basketball in the state.

St. Ignatius Handles Lane on Friday afternoon 68-44

I had my story in for the week after the Whitney Young v. Lincoln Park game on Thursday. I was free to take in whatever game interested me on Friday. I hadn’t seen Lane in a while and the Lane/St. Ignatius game is alway fun so I went over to Lane.

The Champions are young and have struggled a little this year against top tier teams—DePaul Prep, New Trier, Whitney Young, Lincoln Park, Brother Rice. I saw them early in the season a couple times and I wanted to see how they are coming along.

And also, Lane’s Matt Szafoni and Ignatius’s Chris Bolte are similar players. They even look alike. How would they match up against each other?

The Wolfpack built a lead throughout the first half. The difference seemed to be that both teams were moving the fall effectively and getting open looks. The Ignatius players shots were falling and the Champions shots were not. Szafoni outscored Bolte 9-4 in the first half.

The Champions ball movement improved from early in the season. They matched up well against the No. 5 ranked Wolfpack. They were moving the ball with more purpose and confidence than they did in the early season. It was the shooting that come up short. Not enough shots were not falling.

The Wolfpack broke the game open in the fourth quarter. Ignatius stand out sophomore Amir Tucker piled up the points finishing with 21. Bolte got his points, 12. Ignatius junior Duke Ross had 12.

As for the Szafon/Bolte match up, Szafoni had more points (15) but Bolte (12) got the win.

“The greatest strength of our team, is our team. When we are at our best, we are playing for each. Playing together. We have a lot of guys that can step up and have really big days,” said St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe.

“We’ve got fourteen guys on this team that put winning first. The biggest agenda, the most important agenda is they all want to do well as a team.”

The Wolfpack will face some tough Chicago Catholic League games but the other ranked teams are behind them. They will need some help if they want to win the Catholic League. The DePaul Prep Rams will need to drop some games. Don’t hold your breath. The Rams are focused on the CCL at the moment.

After that, Ignatius will land in the toughest sectional the state. The 4A “TBD Sectional” of Southside teams including St. Laurence, Curie, Kenwood, Mount Carmel, Simeon and Whitney Young. Another one of teams is capable of an upset.

Stay tuned. Don’t be surprised if St. Ignatius gets back to the finals in Champaign.

Whitney Young Survives Lincoln Park 65-62

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

By Jack Lydon.

Lincoln Park High School’s gym itself is small with only three rows of seats on two sides of the court. It’s loud. It’s dark. It’s crowded. It’s half game and half concert. The fans are part of the game.

Seriously, the feet of the fans sitting in the first row are actually on the court. At one point, a Lincoln Park’s Marquis Clark stepped on the foot of a person sitting in the front row, stumbled and was called for traveling. The Lincoln Park bench started screaming. The referee responded, “It’s the same for both sides.”

The 25th ranked visiting Whitney Young Dolphins survived Thursday evening’s tense Chicago Public League Red-North division match at Lincoln Park 65-62. The Lincoln Park Lions (11-4, 3-1) are a top team in the Public League, the best team on the Northside. They are not ranked only for having suffered an early season loss to an underrated Hyde Park high school squad. There other losses are to No. 20 Kenwood and Whitney Young, twice. In a curious schedule anomaly, the Lions faced the Dolphins two games in a row because they played on December 30th at the Chicago Public League’s holiday shootout hosted at Whitney Young high school. The Dolphins prevailed in that game 69-61.

Although the Dolphins lead most of the game, it was never by much. The Lions came within one point, 55-54, with under three minutes to play. It seemed Lincoln Park might pull off an inspired comeback victory.

Unfortunately for the Lions and their cheering fans, they had no answer for the Dolphins’ transition offence. The Lions installed their full court press to force turnovers but the Dolphins, lead by their senior point guard, 6’1” and Tennessee commit, Marquis Clark, kept their cool and methodically brought the ball up court for layups and open three-pointers. Clark is considered by many the third best player in the state of Illinois. These were by no means easy layups but if they did not fall, the resulting in free throws were enough to maintain Whitney Young’s lead.

Another bright spot for the Dolphins was the emergence of freshman forward Travis Jamison II. Jamison finished with 18 points consisting of 6 out of 9 three-point shots.

Despite the struggles faced by the Lions, the inspired play of senior forward Larry Harris was an eye-opener. In the final minute of the game, Harris came up with two big dunks, one of which was taken away for hanging on the rim, and free throw. There was also an inspired rebound of a missed free throw where Harris split two Dolphin defenders grabbed the ball but missed had his put back shot blocked.

“I knew that I had to put way more effort in at the end. I always try to get the rebound after a free throw no matter what,” Harris said.

“They are not even really better than us. We just keep beating ourselves,” said Harris about Young. “The first game we had them down twenty at the half and we let them come back. We are a better team than that.”

“It’s always fun in the Lions den,” said Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson.

“Just lack of focus from the first through the fourth. You have to focus through the complete game. We had lapses. We weren’t focused. We were not executing what we watched on film.”

There were also some key missed free throws at the end of the game.

“That’s been our Achille’s heel throughout the season,” Anderson admitted. “We are losing games by five or six points but we are missing ten to twelve free throws a game. You can’t win a game like that.”

“For us to get over the hump in the big games, we have got to do the little things. That focus has to be there from the first quarter through the fourth quarter. We can’t have lapses,” said Anderson.

Lane Topples Schurz 61-41

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

Lane is known as school of champions winning Public League titles in different sports, with one exception. basketball. Head basketball coach Nick LoGalbo believes he can build competitive program. 

Northside basketball teams haven't cut down the nets many times in Public League playoffs in decades. Roosevelt was the last Red North team to win CPL championship in 1952 while Foreman lost in 2010 Semifinals at UIC to Morgan Park. Only three basketball teams have advanced to the Public League final four since 1978. Taft, Von Steuben, and Foreman have come within 32 minutes of playing for the covered championship.

Only three North side teams Lane, Von Steuben, and Foreman have won a regional title in state basketball playoffs since 2003. Marshall has won the most boys basketball title with twelve. Simeon has eleven, including eight in this century. Recently retired Simeon coach Robert Smith who won six state championships as well.

Marshall’s queen of girls’ basketball Dorothy Gaters has won twenty-three city titles.

“It's hard to be successful in basketball for a long time at an academic school,” LoGalbo stated. 

There are some people who might dispute that statement, but Lane has more championship banners in baseball and football than basketball in its long storied history. Believe it or not Lane won Public League basketball banners six times before 1950. Neighborhood rival Schurz last won in 1919.

LoGalbo believes his school is at a disadvantage because it is a select enrollment institution. “We can’t recruit athletes like other schools because we are an academic school,” LoGalbo stated.

This season, Lane (7-7) is trying to compete in basketball starting four sophomores while playing a challenging schedule. Lane will face St. Ignatius (15-2) on Friday night. Lane has lost to some quality programs recently in early season play: DePaul Prep (14-2), Lincoln Park (11-3), Young (12-6), New Trier (12-3) and Brother Rice (11-4).

“We keep saying one day at a time and we are going to get better,” LoGalbo admitted. “We have a good sophomore class. We played a tough early schedule to get ready for city and state playoffs. It's a fun team to coach."

“This group has improved greatly since start of the season,” senior Matt Szafoni said. “They have only scratched the surface. The big thing about this group is their potential.”

The Champions had a good day at the office beating neighborhood rival on Addison Street, Schurz (10-4) 61-41. Szafoni led Lane with nineteen points while sophomores Cole Christian and Owen Zackaras each contributed combing for twenty-one.

Lane jumped out to a 21-9 advantage and the outcome was never in doubt.

Lane against Schurz was always a special and entertaining matchup especially in baseball and football. Neither school is in same conference anymore in football, basketball or baseball.

“It was the neighborhood rivalry,” LoGalbo admitted as a former Lane graduate.

Schurz faces a different challenge after starting 10-1 and upsetting East Aurora (8-6) in its holiday tournament before losing to defending Class 1A champions Chicago Hope Academy (8-5) in the tournament championship game. The Bulldogs who were off to their best start since 1988 and have lost three straight games. Schurz is currently 4-0 in the CPL White North Division and must now survive without leading scorer Michael Chaney who suffered a knee injury in loss at Tinley Park (2-8) on Monday night.

“It was very disappointing. We thought we could hang with them without Michael,” head coach James Shelton said after the loss. “No excuses. We missed free throws we missed layups. Lane did a great job with that motion offense.”

Kam Fagairo led Schurz with fourteen points. The Bulldogs trailed 45-13 at halftime and started the game by missing six free throws and five layups in the first half.

One thing that has never been in dispute about Lane. The school is one of the best academically in the state.

“It's a special place,” said Logalbo who is a former Lane student and basketball player. “I love working and coaching here.”

“We have a very rigorous academic schedule,” Szafoni said. “The school spirit is great and we get support from everybody.”

St. Ignatius Stuns Unbeaten St. Patrick 46-32 to Win Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

St. Ignatius has been one of the surprising basketball teams to start the season. The Wolfpack are now 14-2 after upsetting unbeaten St. Patrick (13-1) to win championship game of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York High School.

St. Ignatius has impressive resume with wins over reigning 4A state champions Benet Academy (17-1) and Metamora (10-4) while losing to titleholders DePaul Prep (14-2) and Curie (11-1). Benet beat Curie and DePaul Prep on the last day of the year to win prestigious Pontiac tournament for first time in school history. The realigned Chicago Catholic League should be competitive next season with all four teams competing against each other in regular season and postseason play. 

“I haven't seen the schedules of the other teams," St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe said after winning title of 32-team event at York.

“I would put our schedule up against anyone in the state. We have competed against some of the best programs in the state.”

In a matchup between two of the best teams and two of the best big men R.J. McPartlin and Chris Bolte, two sophomores stole the show for St. Ignatius. Amir Tucker led the Wolfpack with seventeen points including a championship game record five three-point baskets while sophomore D. J. Caldwell added thirteen points. 

McPartlin finished with fifteen points but was limited to only one basket in the second half by Bolte and his teammates. Bolte was eventually named MVP after collecting 74 points and 35 rebounds in five games while McPartlin had 80 points and 45 rebounds.

“I took it personal that first half,” Bolte said as he scored only three points in the fourth quarter but stood out with his defense against McPartlin in second half.

The Wolfpack had eleven long range hoops while forcing 13 turnovers as the Shamrocks shot only 12 of 41 against St. Ignatius.

Ignatius took over the contest in the final quarter outscoring Shamrocks 17-5 as Tucker had two more treys. 

“He is an amazing player,” Monroe admitted about Tucker. “He is going to be a star because he is a good basketball player and good person off the court."

St. Ignatius is probably considered the Northwestern of the Chicago Catholic League, but the Wolfpack went downstate in basketball in 2022 and 2023. 

The Wolfpack starts three underclassmen and have four sophomores on the squad.

“The future looks bright,” Monroe said.

Meanwhile it is back to drawing board for St. Patrick who will now prepare with Saturday showdown against Curie at Malcolm X College. The Shamrocks have had their share of success recently with back to back appearances in the Elite Eight before taking third place in 3A.

“This team expects to win,” Head St Patrick head basketball coach Mike Bailey said in the preseason. “This team knows how to win. This team has a chance to be a special group.”

St. Patrick will be ready for March Madness in 4A with five matchups at neutral sites. The new year will be challenging with contests against Benet and Marist (12-1), Hyde Park (10-4) and Loyola (15-2). These games will prepare team for postseason play while impacting seeding for upcoming sectional with potential playoff game against the Rams in sectional championship game.

“Our first goal is to as well as we can in the state tournament,” Bailey said recently.

The Shamrocks played a tough schedule last season with seven losses and still advanced to semifinals for first time in school history. 

Glenbard East (13-2) beat Perspectives Leadership 71-49 to take third place while York (12-2) (topped 8A football runnerup), Oswego 55-45 to win the consolation championship.

DePaul Prep Defeats Bradley-Bourbonnais 57-28

These are some photos from the Bradley-Bourbonnais game from last Monday. It was kind of overtaken by events, Christmas and all. The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Bradley-Bourbonnais 57-28 in the Tom Winiecki Gym.

It was an afternoon game on a Monday. I like afternoon games.

The Rams handled Bradley. They just had no answer for Gus Johnson and Zion Lee on the glass.

I post this on Sunday, six days after the game. Pontiac starts tomorrow. It’s serious now. 11-1 through the first part of the season. 3-0 in the Catholic League with two of the big ones, Loyola and St. Ignatius navigated successfully.

But now it’s Pontiac. Just another thing. Just another couple games on the schedule. Even so, it’s a challenge. Serious business. Benet and Curie. The granddaddy of all Christmas tournaments. It’s a chance to make a statement, to make some friends, to show people how good this group is. And hopefully add another sentence in the story of DePaul Prep basketball.

If you haven’t been to Pontiac, you should make the trip. It’s a little over two hours done there. Very nice facility. The light in the gym is okay. It could be better but there are worse places.

Lake View Defeats Antioch 56-49 at Elgin

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

By Jack Lydon

Lake View basketball is on the rise. The Wildcats defeated the Antioch Sequoits 56-49 at the Elgin Holiday Tournament Friday afternoon. The Wildcats (7-5) and Sequoits (2-10) started slowly. It was 8-2 Antioch at the end of the first quarter. That did not last.

“Whenever we pressure the ball, it opens up the floor. Whenever we are low energy, we pick it up with the press,” said Lake View junior Tysean Davis, a transfer from Uplift. The Wildcats dialed up the pressure with a smothering full court press on the Sequoits early in the second quarter and scored 43 points in the second and third quarters combined for a 15-point lead at the start of the fourth.

“We knew that was going to come. We played them in the summer. They turned the heat on in the second quarter. And obviously, we handled it with more poise in the second half,” said Antioch head coach Sean Connor.

Don’t let the Sequoits record fool you. Coach Connor, a long-time sophomore coach at area powerhouse DePaul Prep, has his Sequoits in a rebuilding year but they are tough, athletic and well coached.

The Wildcats had a 15-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter which the Sequoits cut to four with about two minutes to play. However, not only can the Wildcats play defense, they can finish. Senior leader LeDarrell Goss El, himself a transfer from Perspectives, drained three free throws at the end to seal the victory of Lake View.

An impressive win for the Wildcats. Tysean Davis, credited by Coach Patterson on being the team’s best defender, lead all scorers with 25 points. The one-two punch of Tysean Davis and LeDarrell Goss El promises to make in interesting combo for the balance of the season.

“LeDarrell Goss El has been a great addition. He is leading the Red-North now in scoring. He is averaging about 19 points a game. He has a couple 28, 29-point games, but he has also had a nine-assist game,” Patterson said.

“Our goal when I got here was to move from the [Chicago Public League’s] White [division] to the Red. It took us four years to do it but we went undefeated last year in the White to advance to the Red,” Patterson added.  

Cognizant that Lake View High School is the oldest high school in the state of Illinois, having opened in 1874, and at that time with the City of Lake View was not even part of the City of Chicago, “I wanted to come to Lake View because they did not have a history of basketball excellence. I wanted to build that,” Patterson said.

The Wildcats are not just content with the move to the Red. They are right in the thick of things in CPL’s Red-North division with Lincoln Park, Whitney Young, Lane Tech, Payton, Amundsen, Northside and Taft. Despite losses to Lincoln Park and Lane, the Wildcats have the Payton, Amundsen and Whitney Young games circled on the calendar and are looking to firmly establish themselves in the Red. More than that, Coach Patterson is looking to build Lake View into a basketball school.

“I am looking forward to the second half of the season. And the Regional is in our favor. We are in 3A in the DeLaSalle Sectional. For our regional, we’ve got Schurz, King, and Hyde Park. None of those teams scare me,” Patterson said.

“It’s not like the past when we’ve had St. Ignatius, DePaul Prep. No way in the world were we gonna get past those guys but these teams, we feel like if we play like we are supposed to, we are going to be in the race. It would be the first regional championship in Lake View history.”

Gavin Building Fenton Basketball Team into Factor in Upstate Eight

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

 

The life of a sophomore basketball coach and teacher isn't glamorous although suburban coaches do make more money.

Two of the greatest high school coaches in the state were Mount Carmel football coach Frank Lenti, who won 11 state championships and St. Joseph head varsity basketball coach Gene Pingatore who won 1,035 games and two state titles. Both men began their long career as lower-level coaches.

No dynasty or good winning program is built without good assistant coaches or good lower level coaches. Jack Gavin who is currently the sophomore basketball coach at Fenton is hoping to help Charles Taft build the Bison into a top program in the Chicago area. Gavin is starting his third season at Fenton after beginning his high school coaching career at Elwood Park going 17-5 at the lower level.

“The sky is the limit for him,” Fenton head varsity basketball coach Charles Taft said about his 25 year-old sophomore coach. Taft coached on the Northwest Side at Notre Dame for Girls and St. Patrick.

“He always had fun,” former Orr point guard Handy Johnson said on his former basketball student. “Jack was super competitive. Jack had the ability to be a good basketball coach because even at a young age he really understood the game. He is a player’s coach.”

To say Gavin grew up in the game of basketball would be an understatement. Gavin played in high school at Elmwood Park and has participated in the Sharks suburban youth AAU basketball program as a player and coach. The Sharks recently stunned the basketball team run by former NFL player Tai Streets.

Off the court, Gavin will start student teaching next year after receiving his masters degree from Purdue. Gavin played for Illinois Benedictine University in Lisle led by Keith Bunkenburg.

“He knows the game of basketball,” Bunkenburg said on his former point guard. “What a great kid. Fenton is lucky to have him.”

Lower-level coaches like Gavin have a big job besides player development. Guys like Gavin are also responsible for recruiting and scouting opponents. One other issue since freshmen play varsity basketball you might have to deal with a lesser talented team at times while the varsity coach is juggling the roster. In the past depending on the league freshmen would participate in both sophomore and varsity games playing limited minutes. Ultimately the job of any lower-level coach is to prepare the player for the varsity. 

“It is not about wins and losses at our level,” Gavin said on his job as sophomores coach. “It's hard to win basketball games.”

 “I hired him because he was young energetic and willing to learn,” Taft admitted and he has now won over 300 varsity basketball games in his career. “He wasn't a know it all. A lot of young coaches in the game of basketball think they know everything. He does a great job getting our sophomores ready to play on the varsity.”

Fenton (2-9) is struggling so far this season with only two seniors. The Bison finished the week by beating Ridgewood in Upstate Eight while sophomore squad is 4-6 under Gavin in early basketball contests.

The Lakers of the NBA are struggling to figure out what to do with Bronny James, who is son of superstar Lebron James and is currently playing with the big boys after playing primarily in the G League last year. The younger James is averaging only two points per game. The Lakers are looking at possibly adding Rodney Gaston of the Windy City Inferno who leads ABA in scoring. A player, who by the way, the Bulls have declined to sign or even give a tryout.

Gavin had his high school playing career in basketball derailed by torn labrum during his senior year at Elmwood Park in 2018. So, Gavin who was a point guard received an early start on his coaching career. 

“It was tough getting hurt in my senior year,” Gavin stated. “I was worried about getting hurt because I wanted to play college basketball.”

Gavin learned the game from Johnson, Bunkenburg, Kelly and his father Pat Gavin who played at Steinmetz and later coached at Fenton. The older Gavin coached in the Sharks basketball program started by Matt Kelly 14 years ago.

Mount Carmel football is probably the most successful varsity program in any sport with 17 championships. Jordan Lynch who replaced Lenti enters 2026 going for an unprecedented fifth straight title after topping Oswego in Class 8A championship game at Illinois State. Lynch is 88-12 with five titles while the lower-level teams were 36-0 this past season.

Last year, St Patrick advanced to state basketball finals for first time in school history winning games 29 games. That group as sophomores went 16-0 in ESCC play.

The landscape of high school sports especially basketball has changed. Freshman now play and start on some varsity basketball teams while 19 year-old kids are playing in the NBA.

Speaking of high school basketball players, freshman Emran Alispahic at Notre Dame will be a player to watch over the next four years.

“He had a high basketball IQ,” Johnson said about Gavin. Handy played college basketball at Nebraska and Southwest Missouri State after playing games in the Red West Section with ORR. “He was always a sponge and willing to learn. Jack picked up things fast and quickly.”

Gavin had interesting suggestion for solving our obesity problem with youngsters who spend a lot to time on computers and cell phones while eating junk food.

“I think more kids need to play sports,” Gavin admitted. 

The varsity basketball team under Coach Taft will play at Marengo during the Christmas break while the sophomore squad will play at home in a tournament.

Curie Comes Back to Beat St. Ignatius 42-40

Curie senior guard Justin Oliver backed into the lane with only a few seconds left in the tie game with St. Ignatius Monday evening and took a turnaround jumper. Nothing but net for a 42-40 lead. The refs put two seconds on the clock but the Wolfpack could not get a shot up.

Before that, it was an ugly boxing match of a game. A ton of fouls. Missed shot after missed shot.

I have to hand it to the Condors. Down 40-32 with under three minutes to go, they clamped down the defense and scored 10 unanswered point to edge the Wolfpack at the buzzer.

Maybe not the most skilled basketball team among the top five or so but certainly one of the toughest. I was impressed with their focus and will to win.

We will see how they do in Pontiac.

DePaul Prep Improves to 12-0 with 52-33 Thrashing of St. Ignatius

The DePaul Prep Rams are 12-0, halfway through the 25-26 campaign. There are lots of games left to play and some very tough conference games coming up in January but 12-0 must be a record. I looked back through MaxPreps.com records going back to 2008 and no DePaul Prep nor Gordon Tech team has started 12-0 in that period. This is quite an accomplishment. Coach Morgan, his staff and this special group of players deserve some recognition.

Well done Rams!

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Ignatius 59-40

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

By Jack Lydon

The No. 1 ranked DePaul Prep Rams are rolling and just getting better. Friday night’s 59-40 victory over No. 6 St. Ignatius (9-1) at the Tom Winiecki Gym on the former Gordon Tech campus moved the Rams to 10-1. Earlier in the week, the Rams defeated the No. 3 team, Kankakee Kays, 56-49 at the Team Rose Shootout.

The Rams are 11 games into their 29-game regular season and they look every bit the part of the No. 1 team. This success comes as DePaul Prep seeks its fourth straight state championship. One of those championships was in class 2A and two in class 3A but this year the Rams have graduated into the top class, 4A and will face the top competition in Illinois high school basketball.

First things first. The Rams needed to get past the St. Ignatius Wolfpack which is on a bit of a historic run of its won in recent years having advanced to the state finals multiple times. Coach Matt Monroe has his Wolfpack stalking again this year coming into this key Chicago Catholic League match up with a gaudy 9-0 record which includes a win over Benet Academy. 

“We want to establish the inside with Shaun [DePaul Prep’s senior forward Rashaun Porter],” said Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt of his plan for St. Ignatius

“We do want to establish the paint first, then we work inside out. We were trying to put Rykan’s guy in ball screens or down screens with Shaun [Porter] because Shaun’s a big body; it’s hard to get around him,” he said of his plan for the Wolfpack.

That’s largely what happened. Rashaun Porter put up eights inside in the first quarter. After committing his second foul late in the first quarter, junior forward Gus Johnson, younger brother of former Ram and now DePaul University Blue Demon basketball player Jonas Johnson, came in. Then it was Rykan Woo’s turn. The Rams’ senior shooting guard dropped in nine points of his own in the second quarter and the Rams lead 38-17 at the half.

“Gus Johnson came in and give up big minutes. He had four quick points. He had two big rebounds and a block. I am trying to find him more minutes. Sometimes when we play a spread team, it’s hard to have three bigs out there but he played great, great minutes for us,” Kleinschmidt of his junior forward.

It’s tough to erase even a small deficit against DePaul Prep but 21 points would be tough for the Wolfpack to overcome in the second half.

Rashaun Porter was fired up after the victory.

“We all just wanted to come in with a passion. We know its’s a big game. It’s a big rivalry game. We just wanted to go for the kill. The best thing to do is win at home with your guys,” Rashaun said.

DePaul Prep’s first goal every year is the win the Chicago Catholic League. It’s no different this year and the Rams have already taken two big steps in that direction with wins over No. 8 ranked Loyola Academy and No. 6 ranked St. Ignatius. But there is still a long way to go with Mount Carmel, St. Laurence and Brother Rice still to come.

“It’s another big one. We needed Loyola and Ignatius early. To have those two in our rearview mirror helps that we can kind of catch our breath, work on our weaknesses now before we get into the dogdays of January,” Klienschmidt said.

State championships or not, the Rams are still focused on two-thirds of the season yet to play. They will need to be, Pontiac, the mother of all holiday tournaments, is next.

DePaul Prep defeats St. Francis de Sales 72-59

The DePaul Prep Rams (9-1) hosted the St. Francis de Sales Pioneers (0-6) Tuesday evening at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

One can imagine what might happen. The Rams jumped out to an early lead and cruised.

Big Tim Shabazz told me that St. Francis was pretty good and is a contender in 1A. They obviously struggled against the number one team in the state but They can score. They shot the ball well. Pioneers’ senior Kalvin Leonard scored 19 points. He can play.

I decided to do something a little different with the photos. I used a 300mm and shot from the stands behind the scorer’s table during the first half. I just wanted to do something different. But I did keep score. I couldn’t help myself.

Final score was Rams 72, Pioneers 59.

DePaul Prep defeats No. 3 Kankakee 56-49

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.

Mroz Returns to St. Patrick

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY           

Chris Mroz was excited about the prospect of playing against his alma mater at the Max Kurland basketball tournament at St. Patrick High School. Yes, you can go home again. In this case, it took a while.

Mroz, the head boys basketball coach at Ridgewood in Norridge, was hoping to see how his young team with only two seniors would measure up against a St. Patrick team that finished third in the Class 3A tournament last season.

His Rebels (4-3) lost to Naperville North 49-36 in the third place game. Carson Loughlin scored 19 points as Naperville North (7-2) pulled away in the second half, outscoring Ridgewood by a 25-14 margin.

“It brings back a lot of memories for me,” Mroz said afterward. “This is the first classroom I ever taught in as a teacher. Unfortunately, we lost today. We needed to make a few more shots. We made too many turnovers. Our kids played hard and the effort was there. We will watch the tape. We will get better and have a good season.”

Ridgewood had tough day on road making only 14 baskets with 18 turnovers in the loss.

Mroz, who graduated from St. Patrick in 2002 and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2017, played at Bradley and Missouri-St. Louis before finally obtaining his Master’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Now a special education teacher at Ridgewood, he has won 212 games and four regional championships in 16 seasons. But until last week, he never coached basketball game at St. Patrick.

He watched briefly as St. Patrick (4-0) handed Wheaton North its first defeat of the young season 69-48 in the championship game of the Kurland tournament. Senior center RJ McPartlin, who has battled injuries during the last two seasons, led the Shamrocks with 21 points to earn MVP honors. Maurice Neeley added 15 points while junior Omar Ajanovic contributed 12.

“We have had some good basketball teams at St. Patrick,” coach Mike Bailey said afterward. “This team has a chance to be a special group as well.”

“It was awesome to see St. Patrick and coach Bailey get Downstate last season,” Mroz said. “I went Downstate and watched the game with a bunch of coaches. If I make a layup 25 years ago against La Grange, we would have gotten there sooner.”

Mroz will return to St. Patrick for a non-conference matchup against the Shamrocks, who won 29 games last season and lost to Brother Rice in the Class 3A semifinals.

“You could see when he walked into St. Patrick as a freshman that he would be a coach one day because he knows the game of basketball,” Bailey said about his former point guard. “He was born to coach. He would come into my office at 14 years of age and talk about basketball with me after watching a game.”

Ironically, one of Mroz’ most memorable victories as a coach came against St. Patrick in the 2016 state tournament. The Rebels stunned the Shamrocks 55-54 on a long buzzer-beater by Zac Rzewnicki in the sectional championship at Ridgewood.

“It was one of the greatest games of my career,” Mroz recalled.

Success was short-lived as Ridgewood lost 52-35 to St. Joseph in the supersectional at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. One victory away from trip Final Four in Peoria at Bradley University.

“We had a good game plan,” Mroz said. “We got off to a slow start and eventually settled down and cut their lead to six points. They had a seven-footer (Nick Rakocevic). They were a pretty good team." 

The Chargers lost to Peoria Manual in overtime for third place of the Class 3A tournament

In 2025-26, Ridgewood will try to overcome the loss of nine seniors from a team that finished 15-13 last season. Mroz will need minutes and points from seniors Mike Cwieczkowski and football player Alex Hrabchak to compete and contend in the Upstate Eight.

“We have only been together for 13 days,” Mroz said. “To come of the (Kurland) tournament 2-2 isn’t bad.”

Ridgewood is now in the realigned Upstate Eight with neighborhood rivals Fenton (1-8) and Elmwood Park (3-5). The Rebels will begin conference play Friday night at West Chicago (3-5) while St. Patrick opens its final season of ESCC competition against Notre Dame of Niles (6-3).

DePaul Prep Defeats Bolingbrook 49-20 at Chicago Elite Classic

The DePaul Prep Rams girls’ basketball team is 10-0. I feel bad I have not covered more of their games and showcases the start of this historic season.

I did get out to Chicago Elite Classic to see the Rams hand Bolingbrook their only loss of the season so far. Returning starters Ava Giordano, Grace Lee and Kaitlin Totaro are joined by senior Lucia Trautman and sophomore Ramiyah Puckett.   

I was impressed. Despite an uncharacteristically large number of turnovers in the first quarter of the game, this group pulled it together and rallied for a 23-18 first half lead.

The DePaul Prep Rams girls’ varsity has had considerable success in recent years particularly under former head coach Sarah Zarymbski (Gordon Tech 2014) with 2020, 2022 and 2023 appearances in a 2A super-sectionals. Last year was the first year of current Rams’ head coach Corey Morgan. The Rams finished with a respectable 20-14 record and a loss to in a 3A sectional final to eventual champion Montini.

The Rams gaudy 10-0 record this year includes a recent victories over Trinity and Bloom.

Back to the Bolingbrook game. Bolingbrook grabbed a 32-31 lead with 18 seconds left in the third. The Rams put together an impressive 18-8 run in the fourth quarter to salt away a nice win on a big stage against a 4A powerhouse.

I really liked an inbounds play were senior point guard Ava Giordano passed the ball inbounds to senior forward Grace Lee. Lee immediately dished it back to Giordano who drove to the basketball for a bucket. It actually worked twice to seal the win late in the fourth.

“We have nine seniors who understand what DePaul is all about. They have seen the boys have a tremendous amount of success. They are buying into what we are saying and teaching. They are just trying to jump on that train,” said DePaul Prep Rams’ head coach Corey Morgan.

Senior Ava Giordano, point guard since her sophomore year, who can also shoot the three, spoke after the game, “I want to make a great run this year. I think we can do that with my teammates.”

Stay tuned. I sure will.