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.
