Ridgewood Live Event 2026

The “Ridgewood Live Event” started Friday. The great part about Ridgewood is that one can readily watch two games and parts of a third game from the same seat in the Ridgewood High School Gym. Ridgewood coach Chris Mroz and his staff do a tremendous job putting on this event.

Early Friday I got to see some top players—Cole Kelly and Brady Pettigrew, and teams I usually cover during the basketball season—DePaul Prep, Benet, Lincoln Park, St. Ignatius, Loyola and Mount Carmel. I wasn’t able to see Lane and St. Laurence. They play today and tomorrow.

Another reason I very much enjoy this “Live” event is that I get to talk to high school basketball observers who know far more than I do on this subject. They usually set me straight on this I thought I knew.

Key take aways—

Cole Kelly looked like great. Scoring inside and out, dropping 3’s, grabbing boards. This junior may be the best player in the state at this point. Except for maybe, Brady Pettigrew was playing on the court next to where Kelly was putting on a show. Pettigrew was playing gingerly after having recently suffered a serious injury. But playing none-the-less and playing well.

DePaul Prep had two games early in the tournament. First was Rock Island. The starting line-up that Coach Kleinschmit went with was Blake Choice, Gus Johnson (now surprises there), then sophomore Kalob Hayes on the point, junior Jacob Only on a wing and junior senior guard Josiah Payne. This can obviously change. It will be interesting to see if and how the line-up changes. Whatever the starting line-up is, we will see a great deal of Elie Ghattas and Henry Levin.

The Rams handled Rock Island. They looked in mid-season form on offence and defense. Blake Choice was scoring inside and out. Gus Johnson took a beating inside from the brutal Rock Island Rocks but scored despite the felonious aggression of the Rocks. Caleb Hayes finished his layups which is great to see in a sophomore point guard.

The Rams’ second game, an hour after the first, was against Curie. The Rams started fast opening a ten-point first half lead. In the second half, Curie went to a full court trapping press and chipped away at the lead. On the small court, Curie exceptionally physical full court trap was affective. But not effective enough, the new DePaul Prep line-up held the Condors off and won 43-40. Not that the win matters at all but what I saw was a young Rams team took all the beating that Curie could dish out and held the lead. It is very hard get ten down on a Tom Kleinschmidt team and win the game.

Benet was Benet. The new starters and the bench players filled their roles and won easily.

Loyola was Loyola. They were very athletic and active if a little rough around the edges when finishing at the rim and launching threes. Coach Livatino will get that fixed.

Loyola played Lincoln Park, another team in the coverage area. The Lions too looked a little rough around the edges but big and very physical. One knowledgeable observers thought they will struggle a little this coming season and finish in eight or ninth place in the Chicago Public League. Looks like they will have work to do to get back the CPL championship game in 26-27.

St. Ignatius looked like a well-oiled machine systematically dismantling Hillcrest 59-21. Everybody can score. Amir Tucker looks to have taken a step up even from stellar play last year. The whole team contributed. Junior Walter Ross impressed me. He can score and finish at the rim. They will be in the mix for the new Chicago Catholic League.

My old East Suburban Catholic Conference, a conference that my school St. Viator dominated for two decades by the time I was in high school some forty years ago, has now folded. The larger schools have joined the Chicago Catholic League. For basketball, the CCL will have three division this upcoming year.

Blue                                 White                             Red

Benet                               DeLaSalle                      Aurora Central

Brother Rice                     Fenwick                        Carmel

DePaul Prep                     Joliet Catholic               IC Catholic

Loyola                             Leo                           Nazareth

Marist                             Marmion Academy    Montini

Mount Carmel                 Marian Catholic             Providence

St. Ignatius                      Notre Dame                    Providence-St. Mel

St. Laurence                     St. Francis                     St. Francis de Sale

St. Patrick                        St. Viator                       St. Rita

The Blue is stacked with a ton of state tournament experience. It was been said by many that the Chicago Catholic League is the toughest conference in the state. The CCL Blue is even tougher with the addition of Marist, Benet and St. Patrick—the reigning 4A state champ, the runner up and a recent state 3A finalist.

Both St. Laurence and Mount Carmel are returning top players are expected to contend for a state title. Loyola is returning top players and is always tough. The eventual winner of the conference title will probably have multiple conference losses. It is any team’s title to earn.

As for the Chicago Public League, one well-known commentator who I pumped for information told me to keep an eye on Lane Tech. Their four wins at R-B did not go unnoticed. He said “Cole Christian is a stud. They are fast and they move the ball well.” He said the Champions will be at the top of the Public League with Curie, Whitney Young and Crane.

That’s what I’ve got for you.

I expect to see St. Laurence and Lane tomorrow so I will have my further impressions. More tomorrow.

R-Bs from the Past

Yesterday, I posted that I had been going to the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout. Then today, while looking for something else, I found folders with the schedules and rosters from the 2021 and 2021 R-Bs.

I thought I would look to see which players were at R-B those years. 2021-2022 was the year of the great Glenbard West team, Caden Pierce, Braden Huff, et. al. The note I have next to that roster is “huge team.”

Jeremiah West was on Joliet West that year. R-B had top player that year. The State of Illinois had a top player. Miles and Wesley Rubin were on Simeon. Morez Johnson was on St. Rita. Nick Martinelli from Glenbrook South. Cameron Christie from Rolling Meadows.

If there was that kind of star talent this year at R-B, I didn’t know who they were. That’s okay. I will just pay more attention, study Prep Hoops to identify the top players.

The group of DePaul Prep players included Jaylin McElroy, Payton Kamin, PJ Chambers and Dylan Arnett. The Rams finished in 3rd place in 2A that year.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout

Best days of the summer.

I have been going to the R-B Summer Shootout for quite a few years. Not exactly sure how many but many. It’s usually right when baseball ends as it was this year. Lane had fallen to eventual 4A champs Libertyville in the Super on Monday. A couple days of summer and fall and basketball season started on Friday with the R-B. Just the way I like it.

This is going to be different basketball season. Our DePaul Prep Rams will have a different team. Gone are Rashaun Porter, Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers three multiyear starters that new nothing but reaching the state finals.

We do have starters Blake Choice and Gus Johnson back. Blake Choice looks like he will score most of the points. Gus scores a lot too and will man the boards. It was the other players that I wanted to check out.

Senior Elie Ghattas impressed on the boards and scoring. Sophomore Kalob Hayes looks like he will play point guard a lot. Ball handling was not an issue and he can shoot the three as well. Senior Henry Levin and AJ Williams are impressive three point shooters but it doesn’t help that they look so much alike. I was constantly got them mixed up.

Coach Kleinschmidt rotated everyone in and out in each of the games. It looked the starting line up is a work in progress with positions to be won and lost. Like I wrote above, a different kind of season for the Rams.

Seeing DePaul Prep was only part of the reason for R-B for me. It is a great opportunity to see teams I don’t get a chance to see.

The big news, that everyone expected, was that Jaxson Davis from Warren is going to some prep school in Missouri. I guess that is just what happens now—the best player in the state moves off to a prep school. Whatever. I can hardly blame the kid and his parents.

Benet just restocked blue chippers. They will be right there but in the Chicago Catholic League this year with the merger of the East Suburban Catholic Conference in all sports now, not just football.

I also saw St. Lawrence and Loyola. The Vikings look very good. They should challenge for the top spot.

I find my self writing the following often—“Loyola is Loyola.” The Ramblers are always good with Tom Livatino coachin’ ‘em up. I guess we will see if how the Ramblers will do with a shot clock. They are still going to be Loyola, even with a shot clock.

I actually didn’t get to see Mt. Carmel which could not be helped. An unnamed coach from another CCL team that I spoke to said Mt. Carmel could be special this year. We will have to keep an eye on them.

A team I did see that impressed me was DeLaSalle. Watch out for them. The might sneak up a few folks.

Interestingly, Lane went 4-0 at R-B with wins over Oswego East, Glenbard West, Lincoln Way East and Lake Forest even after losing so many starters. I wasn’t expecting four wins. Keep an eye on Champions and especially on junior center Cole Christian.

Finally, Whitney Young is good and BIG and talented. I did not get to see Curie and Simeon but they will have their hands full with the Dolphins.

Some Photos from DePaul Prep 3rd Place 56-46 Victory over York

Aaron Britton posted a tweet that DePaul Prep has a unique place in history as being the only team to win their last game of the year for last five seasons—three championship wins and two third place wins.

The Rams handled York late Friday evening overcoming injuries and exhaustion from the historic and draining loss to Benet earlier in the day.

The third place game doesn’t mean what it once did for the Rams in light of the three consecutive state championship. Still, it beats losing.

Rykan Woo was upbeat after the third place game. He told me it was great having one last chance to play with his guys. It was great for me to see them play together again one last time. It was fun visiting with the players and coaches after the game too.

This is a special group of seniors. Four appearances in the state finals. I got to know these young men over these years. I am in the words of Douglas McGregor, “mightily impressed.” Wonderful young men. Credits to themselves, their families and the school.

I wish them all the best and expect frequent visit to games to the last year of games at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

Here are some photos from the third place game.

DePaul Prep Falls to Benet 39-38 in 4A Semi-final

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

By Jack Lydon

This one hurt. The two best high school basketball teams in Illinois faced off in the 4A semi-final in Champaign Friday afternoon. Benet Academy’s Colin Stack made a free throw with 1.1 seconds on the clock to give the Red Wings (36-1) the 39-38 win over the DePaul Prep Rams (32-4).

As close games go, never has one been closer. These teams know each other. The players know each other. The coaches are friends and relatives.  It was a shame one team had to win and one lose in the season’s penultimate show down.

“I didn’t have any pep talk, any motivational talk. You know these guys so well. They know you so well. We are down in Champaign,” Benet head coach Gene Heidkamp told his team before the game.

The Rams jumped out to small first quarter lead. The Red Wings drew even and led at the quarter. They were tied at the half. One point separated them at the end of the third.

Benet pushed the slight 4th quarter lead to six with under three minutes to play. Didn’t look good for the Rams.

After DePaul Prep’s senior center Rashaun Porter made it a four-point game, the Rams went to a full court press.

“We didn’t do [the press] well the first time we played them [in the Pontiac] so we worked on it and it worked out well for us. We didn’t want to do it too early so they get comfortable with it,” said DePaul Prep Rams coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

Catching the Red Wings a little flat-footed, the Rams trapped the inbounds pass. Rykan Woo stole the ball under the basket and instantly made it a two-point game.

More press. Rashaun Porter Porter scored inside off another steal. 38-38 with 1:11 to play.

Then another steal and the Rams had the ball and chance to win. With under ten seconds to play, Rams AJ Chambers drives to his right, collides with Benet’s Perry Tchiegne who tipped the ball away. Benet’s Jayden Wright recovered the ball. Streaking up court, Wright passed to Edvardas Stasys in the lane. Rykan Woo smartly foul him on the floor—no shooting foul which resulted in an inbounds pass.

Then there were series of five consecutive times out while the teams tried to draw up a play, defend a play, then that again, then that still another time.

“I don’t know how many times outs there were. There might have been eight,” Heidkamp said.

“He kept changing the play, so I kept changing the play. It just depended on who was taking it out and who was around the rim. We would see the set, the I would guess what they doing, then he would change it,” Kleinschmidt said.

Finally, Benet’s Jayden Wright passed the ball inbounds to seven-footer Colin Stack. Stack was fouled but missed the bucket with 1.1 on the clock but was fould.

First free throw, no good. Second free throw. Good. 39-38.

Benet wins and advances to championship game against fellow East Suburban Catholic Conference team Marist.

Rams’ senior center Rashaun Porter lead all scorers with 14 points. Rykan Woo had 11. Jayden Wright led the Red Wings with 11. Edvardas Stasys had 10.

The DePaul Prep Rams string of consecutive state Championships comes to an end. It’s been quite a procession of basketball playoff success for the Rams. Six finals appearances in the last six finals dating back to 2019. And in one of the COVID years, the Rams won the Chipolte tournament finishing the season ranked No. 1. Even more remarkable is DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s record. In twelve years as head coach at Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep, Tom’s teams have been in the finals six of those twelve years.

The Rams won the third-place game 56-46 over York late Friday evening.

DePaul Prep Wins Super, 57-45 over Hersey

Maybe it’s time to start writing about this historic string of playoffs wins by DePaul Prep and its head coach Tom Kleinschmidt. Frankly, tomorrow’s game against Benet weighs one me with every word I type. There will be time for that after Saturday.

On Monday evening at the NOW Arena the DePaul Prep Rams survived a very talented and well coached Hersey Huskie team 57-45 to win the Super-Sectional and go back to the state finals for fifth year in a row.

The game was back-and-forth in the first quarter. The Rams gave up an uncharacteristically large number of layup early. It reminded me a little of the sectional semi-final against New Trier where the Rams did not help inside and stayed outside with the shooters to stop the three-pointer.

“Yes, but we were supposed to stay under slips and they got into the paint on us too early. The spread us. The did a really nice job. He’s a hell of a coach and they’ve got some players. We wanted to take it away—the three, but we certainly don't want to give up the lays-ups on the drive,” said Rams head coach Tom Kleinschidt.

Even so, the Rams never trailed by more than three points and only then for a short time.

“We knew that their offense going into this was very good. It's very difficult to replicate. So we kind of had to get used to just the rotations and stuff. And I feel like I want to sell it down. We kind of got the hang of it,” said Rams point guard AJ Chambers.

But Hersey was always just a couple baskets behind. Not a place Rams fans are used to seeing their team. Defense and late clutch baskets helped the Rams pull away to a 57-45 win.

The moment wasn’t lost on them.

“I feel ecstatic. It's great to have another practice with some of my best friends and an amazing coaching staff. I feel great. I'm really excited,” said Rams’ senior shooting guard Rykan Woo.

This IHSA 4A playoffs is a different animal. It’s just excellent ranked teams after another. The games don’t go as they usually do for the Rams. Every game is a battle. New Trier, Evanston, Hersey and now Benet.

Tom Kleinschmidt has told me so many times over the last few weeks that they are not thinking about Champaign or a four-peat that I kind of put it out of my mind too. That’s been easy to do looking at the upcoming opponent.

Now the Rams have Benet in about 25 hours. Benet is the best high school basketball team that I have seen since Glenbard West from six or so years ago. I guess we will see if that is still true. Maybe it’s this year’s Rams since Glenbard West.  

We will find out in about 26 hours.

St. Ignatius Came Back to Defeat Simeon 50-49

On Wednesday evening, I went to Mount Carmel to watch the 4A Sectional Semi-final between St. Ignatius and Simeon.

Simeon played well opening a 30-20 half time lead. The Wolfpack changed in the second half. They can charging back out scoring the Wolverines 23-4 in the first four minutes of the Third and tied the score with 3:47 left in the game.

It was back and forth to the end. Simeon scored on a layup with 8.8 seconds left taking a 49-48 lead.

After the game, St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe explained his thinking on what to do in that moment. Please forgive the lengthy quote but the insight given is worth the effort.

“In the coaching community there's a little bit of a debate. In a situation where maybe the opposing team hits a shot to go up, do you call time out or do you let it play?” explained St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.

“And even on our staff there is a debate about it. I'm a big believer that you don't call time out.

“The reason why when is the other team hit a big shot, they're celebrating, they're hyped up, they're not matched up, it's kind of frantic. So you don't want to call time out and stop everyone so they can get their defense set. So it wasn't a play [I called], but it's a strategy in the sense that we try if that happens to get the ball and go.

“Now when we get to have court and we don't have a shot, then we'll call the time out. So that's what happened is just great players made great plays they stepped up big time in the most crucial moments,” Monroe concluded.

That is indeed what happened. I am pretty sure it was Ignatius junior Duke Ross that grabbed ball after Simeon scored. He quickly surveyed the court and launched a 2/3 court pass to Chris Bolte who was streaking toward the basket with no one in front of him. He dunked the ball to give St. Ignatius team the lead and the victory.

And then yesterday, they dispatched No. 3 Curie to take one step closer to Champaign. The Wolfpack will face York at UIC’s Credit Union 1 Arena on Monday in the Super Sectional.

Kleinschmidt Against Kleinschmidt

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

Potential state basketball semifinal matchup in Class 4A  between Benet [32-1) and DePaul Prep (29-3) is more than just a game. The contest puts Tom Kleinschmidt against his brother Dave Kleinschmidt who is an assistant and sophomore coach at Benet.

Both squads won regional titles last week. This would be a rematch as Benet beat the Rams to win Pontiac Holiday tournament.

"If that would happen it would be surreal," DePaul Prep head basketball coach Tom Kleinschmidt admitted. "Keep in mind we are in the Loyola sectional with seven top 25 teams. We are just focused on the next game."

   "We haven't talked about and if that happened it would be great," Dave Kleinschmidt stated. "That game is down the road. We are focused on our next opponent in state tournament. We are both in  tough sectionals."

Last season went well for the Kleinschmidt brothers on the court. Benet  won its first state basketball title while the Rams won Class 3A in overtime over Brother Rice. The celebration was a little subdued as Tom Kleinschmidt, Sr. passed away.

"It was so special with both of us winning state championship," Dave Kleinschmidt declared. "The odds of both of us getting downstate were long odds and impossible to imagine."

Tom Kleinschmidt Sr had a major impact on both men growing up in Chicago. Mr. Kleinschmidt played basketball at Weber with a young man named Mike Krzyzewski. Kleinschmidt eventually became one of the best high school basketball referees in the state and worked three jobs to support his family.

"The players and coaches knew they were always going to get a fair whistle from my father, " Dave Kleinschmidt said. 

"He had me around basketball at a young age," Tom Kleinschmidt Said about his father. "I got to meet legends and great players while learning the game of basketball. He would take me to watch games at Westinghouse."

The Kleinschmidt brothers are two different people with different backgrounds despite growing upin the game of basketball. Tom has essentially been a celebrity for most of his life. The older Kleinschmidt named after his father played grade school hoops at St John Bosco before attending Gordon and becoming one of the best Prep basketball players in our state.

The Rams lost the 1990 Class AA championship to King in his junior year. Three starters returned the following season as Kleinschmidt broke his ankle in a home game against Loyola ending his career and dreams of winning the state basketball championship that eluded him.

“I knew something was wrong after making the shot," Kleinschmidt admitted. ""We still had a good team I thought we would get back downstate. It was disappointing. It was hard to watch. We lost to a good team New Trier and Rick Hielscher in state playoffs."

Tom talked about being the center of attention as a player and coach.

"I have great friends and family who keep me humble," Kleinschmidt said. "I wouldn't do anything differently. I loved playing at DePaul University. I loved playing for Joey Meyer."

“Tom is just a normal guy," Dave Kleinschmidt said. "He is very humble and grateful. I love my brother. If anybody is a celebrity I think it is our father."

Dave played his high school basketball at St Patrick before becoming a coach with AAU Illnois Wolves for 17 years and special education teacher at Batavia. Tom was head varsity basketball coach at York before returning to take the reins at his alma mater DePaul Prep in 2012. The Rams are going for four straight state basketball banners joining Peoria Manual (1993-97) and Simeon (2009-2013).

Dave was a sophomore coach at York under his brother. Dave has led Benet to five sophomore conference basketball titles recently as head coach.

Both squads have been on a collision course and top of rankings and expectations since the season began in November. The Kleinschmidt brothers assessed both teams.

   Tom talked about Benet who beat the Rams to win Pontiac Holiday tournament in December.

"Gene (Heidkamp) at Benet is one of the best coaches in the state," Kleinschmidt stated. "The culture of their program is great. They have been one of the most consistent winning programs the last 15 years in the state."

Dave talked about the Rams.

"They have great chemistry," Dave Kleinschmidt said. "They have been playing together since sophomore year."

This reporter would pay to watch the rematch at Assembly Hall with four of the best basketball players in the state facing each other. Benet is led by seniors Colin Stack and Jayden Wright. The Rams feature the dynamic duo of Rashaun Porter and Rykan Woo.

  One team that might be overlooked is Curie (26-1) who just captured CPS championship with Justin Oliver and Mike Oliver, Jr.

Both brothers will admit the most important thing they learned from their father is to have good communication with players on and off the court. Players and coaches knew as long as they were professional and courteous they could ask questions of referee Tom Kleinschmidt Sr.

"I am more than just a basketball coach," DePaul Prep head basketball coach Tom Kleinschmidt admitted in a recent interview.

DePaul Prep Defeat No. 5 Warren 58-54

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

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep went up to Gurnee to face fifth ranked Warren and took care of business defeating the Blue Devils 58-54. The Rams just keep winning improving their season record to 26-3 and maintaining their No. 2 ranking.

In the regular season penultimate contest, DePaul Prep has lost only one game to an in-state opponent. That was a 52-43 loss to the No. 1 ranked Benet Redwings on New Year’s Eve at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

Thursday’s matchup featured the best player in the state, Warren’s junior guard Jaxson Davis, on the fifth ranked team against the second ranked team with two All City players, DePaul Prep’s seniors Rykan Woo and Rashawn Porter on the second ranked team and three-time state champions.

A battle of titans? Well, let’s not lose our heads, but surely the final meeting between top ranked teams in the regular season.

The Rams struggled a little early missing shots on their first four possessions.

“I don't know it's they just weren't going in the basket,” said Rykan Woo, Rams senior guard who was named to the Sun-Times first team All City Team on Friday.

Down 6-0, Woo made a layup and on the Rams’ next possession, Rams senior Zion Lee, a transfer from Springfield’s Sacred Heart-Griffin high school, drained a long three pointer.

“I just knew I had to try, I had to do something,” Lee said. “I knew we were down, so I had to come up with energy. I had to come up with confidence.” The Rams were back in it with the score 6-5.

Lee and the Rams surged ahead in the second quarter outscoring the Blue Devils 21-10. Lee added a field goal and another three-pointer midway through the second.

“It was that energy that we picked up going into the second quarter,” Zion Lee said. “We talked, we huddled to make sure that we kept the same energy.”

With the floodgates opened by Lee, the flood of points followed, Woo with 8, senior forward and the Rams other first team All City player, Rashawn Porter with 4, AJ Chambers with 3 and Blake Choice with 2.

It wasn’t the just the scoring energy of the Rams; it couldn’t be against the top player in the state. Defense would win the day.

“We had to show him two early,” said Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt about double-teaming Warren’s star Jaxson Davis.

“And we try to stay home on the shooters, let the bigs beat us,” said Kleinschimdt in coach speak about double-teaming Davis to make him pass the ball out to shooters on the perimeter.

It worked for the most part. Davis also faced some triple teams on his attempts to drive the lane.

“We just gotta show help and leave rebound lanes open lanes. He’s a hell of a player. You got to show two or two and a half of them. He's a great player,” Kleinschmidt said of Davis. The Ram didn’t stop Davis. He had 15 points in the game. But they definitely slowed him down. He is a player capable of scoring 40 or 50 in a game.

After defeating Ridgewood on Friday evening, the Rams have completed the regular season at 27-3. The Rams attempt at a fourth straight IHSA state championship starts Wednesday at Maine East. They enter as the #1 seed in the division 4A Loyola sectional and will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between Taft and Highland Park.

DePaul Prep Defeats Christ the King 57-38 on Senior Night

It was a emotional evening on Senior Night for the DePaul Prep Rams mens’ basketball team on Friday. Well, at least for me it was. After the game, the team did not immediately retreat to the locker room. They stayed on the court. Visited with each other, fellow students and their families, taking photos.

I don’t remember seeing that in the past absent a trophy presentation and cutting down of nets.

Maybe it was just emotional for me. This is a special group of seniors. They have won a state championship every year of high school. This unique accomplishment doesn’t seem lost on them, or me. It’s a special thing.

It’s particularly special for me. I remember the days when Tom Kleinschmidt took over the basketball team. There were times when they had .500 records.

I remember one particular game late in one such season. It was one of the Coach’s first seasons. They were playing Francis Parker at Francis Parker late on a Saturday afternoon. The Rams were struggling against a team that they should beat.

At some point, the Coach just took over, calling times out, yelling instructions. Everyone in the gym quieted down, paying attention to the Coach’s instructions. Frankly, I don’t remember who won. I just remember the players being more afraid of disobeying the Coach than they were of the other team.

Three state championships in we are a long way from that now. A fourth championship is a distinct possibility. I would not want to be Benet having to face these Rams again.

The good thing is, at least it is for me, that the specialness of all this not lost on this special group. I think it motivates them.

Go Rams!

St. Patrick Beats Carmel 70-43

SHAMROCKS STAY IN ESCC RACE WITH HOME WIN OVER CARMEL

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

One of the goals for varsity basketball team at St Patrick is to win East Suburban Catholic Conference basketball championship in its final season. The Shamrocks (21-4, 5-1) moved a step closer with 70-43 win over Carmel (9-18, 2-6) last Friday night. 

“Our name would be carved in gold but it would be a co-championship,” senior RJ McPartlin said after the latest victory. “It would be a tremendous thing.”

The ESCC will merge with the Catholic League next school year in basketball.

Top ranked Benet (26-1, 6-0) is going for fourth straight title, and Redwings stayed in sole possession of first place with a victory over Notre Dame. Marist (23-4,4-1) and St.Viator (18-8, 4-2) stayed alive for share of excellence in ESCC with wins as well.

“It would mean the world to me and our program to win the league in its final season,” St Patrick head coach Mike Bailey admitted. “I love the ESCC. The schools are all very similar. We have two road games left. We are treating next two games as championship week. We have to take care of business.”

There was very little drama on Friday against Carmel who has one of the state's best football players sophomore inebacker Jameer Myles on its roster. Shamrocks jumped out to a 13-2 lead before putting the Corsairs away in the third quarter by scoring 27 points. In fact the only issue for St Patrick was Shamrocks played critical conference clash without Joey Costanzo who was sick. 

Maurice Neeley led Shamrocks with 19 points while Omar Ajanovic added 17 points.

Ethan Matz led Carmel with 10 points.

Neeley is very underrated player but plays important role for St Pat's. The senior guard is point man on its defense while starting the offense for Shamrocks.

“As important as the other players are on our team he is the glue for our team,” Bailey said. “He means so much to our basketball team. He does a little bit of everything for us.”

“He is tough as nails,” McPartlin stated. ‘He is not a selfish guy. He’s a good teammate.”

St Patrick closed the weekend with a 74-42 win over Jones College Prep from Chicago PublicLeague. The victory was a milestone for Bailey who won his 700th varsity basketball game. Bailey has now won 604 games with Shamrocks in 32 seasons.

“It's a nice accomplishment,” Bailey said. “For me it is always about having great assistant coaches and players. Very blessed to have great families and basketball players in our program at St Patrick. I have a very supportive administration at St Patrick. The most important thing for me is our students and basketball players.”

The state basketball playoff pairings will released this Friday. Shamrocks will be in Class 4A at Loyola sectional with defending Class 3A champion DePaul Prep, Evanston, and Loyola. St Pat's is seeking third straight trip to the Elite Eight after finishing third in Class 3A last season.

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.”