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).

Antioch Edges Ridgewood 48-46

The Antioch Sequoits (10-16, 6-7) traveled down to Norridge to take on the Ridgewood Rebels (3-21, 2-7) Saturday afternoon. Antioch’s first year head coach Sean Connor, former sophomore coach and varsity assistant to Chicago’s DePaul Prep, was looking to schedule a game to fill in for a game lost to COVID. Chris Mroz’ team at Ridgewood fit the bill.

Ridgewood worked up a lead slowing through the game. The Rebels led by eight early in the fourth quarter. A couple quick three points brought the Sequoits back. Foul shots erased the deficit and built a small lead.

I have seen Seen Connor coach quite a few games. I have never seen one of his teams blow a lead. Saturday’s game reminded me of Friday’s DePaul Prep game. Tom Kleinschmidt’s DePaul Prep Rams got a small lead on St. Rita in the third quarter. His Rams handled the ball well, killed clock and made their foul shots.

That’s what Sean’s Sequoits did on Saturday afternoon at Ridgewood. They got a small lead and kept it.

Sequoits 48, Rebels 46.

Basketball is Back at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout

I love the R-B Shootout. Gets me back into basketball. I get to see teams and players I don’t ordinarily see during the season.

The games don’t mean much. One always wants to win but it is more about seeing what teams have and what they lost.

Last year I realized the R-B is not a good time and place for photos. It is more of a place to get to know teams and players. Although I do love the main gym. It has excellent light and lots of space to get a good position.

I took some photos more to capture the atmosphere than game action.

R-B has 56 teams. A mix of traditional powerhouses, teams with standout players and just average teams but more of the former than the latter.

I hesitate to comment upon and evaluate players for want of proper bone fides for such an endeavor. My basketball credentials don’t get much past coaching my son’s grade school basketball team. But I am sticking with my decision to report because more coverage is better than less coverage. (Mike Clark encouraged me. So blame him if I get it all wrong.) So, in the venerable words of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it.” I can recognize a good player, or maybe just a good play, when I set it. So here goes.

The first game of the day was St. Ignatius vs. Timothy Christian. I wanted to check out Timothy Christian’s 6’8” senior center Ben VanderWal. I also wanted to see how Chicago Catholic League contender and likely top ten team St. Ignatius looks.

VanderWal is the real thing. He has size and length. He can shoot. He plays defense. He will carry Timothy Christian.

St. Ignatius is very good. They move the very well. They make layups. They play defense. It seemed like they are much bigger than last year. Kolby Gilles, Richard Barron and A. J. Redd all looked bigger and faster. I do not remember big junior Jackson Kotecki from last year but I should have. He is the piece that rounds out this group. And they have a player named Emmett O’Shaughnessy. How can one not love that?

Next was Rolling Meadows vs. Ridgewood. I wanted to see Cameron Christie. He didn’t play much so I can’t draw any conclusions. It seemed like Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich wanted to see what the rest of his squad could do. Interestedly, when Christie was in, he brought up the ball like his older brother incoming Michigan State freshman, Max Christie.

Without too much of Christie to be contended with, Coach Chris Mroz’s scrappy Ridgewood squad made a game of it. Tons of effort in this game even without the East Gym packed with college coaches.

Next were the DePaul Prep games. First Oak Forest, then Glenbrook South. Oak Forrest has Robbie Avila. That kid is just big. He he can handle the ball, he can score and he can blot out the sun. But I have to say, DePaul Prep’s Dylan Arnett played him well. I would say Arnett got the better of him.

From the frying pan and into the fire for Arnett. Glenbrook South’s Nick Martinelli followed immediately. It’s no secret to even casual observers that Martinelli is one of the best players in the state but I had never seen him until today. He did not disappoint. Arnett played well but at times, many times, Nick Martinelli could not be denied.

Glenbrook South, last year’s Central Suburban League Champions over Evanston, is a much better team than Oak Forest. Glenbrook South held the young Rams in check. One noticed the absence of DePaul Prep’s scoring machines TY Johnson and Rashid Bello in this game. The Rams stayed close but lost 43-34.

Then Glenbard West vs. St. Rita. I had to see Glenbard West and I wanted to see how the young St. Rita team was coming along.

Glenbard West is the best high school basketball team I have seen in a long time; certainly the biggest. The 1-3-1 zone had St. Rita stymied in the first half. The Mustangs did not score for a long time at the beginning of the game. The Hilltopper’s 6’10” forward Braden Huff has length and nose for the basket. He just took the ball to the hoop. Caden Pierce, Paxton Warden, Bobby Durkin and Ryan Renfro rounding out an all 6’3” or better starting five. Oh, and they are athletic too. Fast. This team has to be a favorite to make it to the 4A finals.  

Then Loyola vs. Bogan. Loyola is always good. Tom Livatino gets a bunch of athletes, coaches them up and turns them into a winning basketball team. Just always expect Loyola to be very good. Nothing different with this group. I don’t think he has any D1 prospects but they will contend for the CCL for sure. As always.

Finally, Joliet West vs. Whitney Young. The last that I saw Whitney Young, TY Johnson put forty points on them and DePaul Prep upset the Dolphins at St. Patrick’s last March in the Chipolte season ending tournament. Coach Slaughter has his team hitting on all cylinders. Just a group of big, fast athletes. They are excellent shooters. Gotta be another favorite to win 4A.

I also learned today that DePaul Prep sophomore coach Sean Connor got the head coaching job at Antioch High School. Sean is a great coach. Seriously, this guy can coach. His teams won the sophomore division of the Chicago Catholic League for, I don’t know how many years in a row, eight, nine? And he won it with the best freshmen and sophomore playing up a lot of the time. Antioch will love Sean. Just a wonderful person. I am happy for him that he will be fifteen minutes away from his home and won’t be so far from his growing family. I am also happy he didn’t land at a Catholic League school.

There you go. I am so happy basketball is on again.

Hope you like the photos.