[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.
