DePaul Prep Rallied to Defeat Mount Carmel 58-50

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

By Jack Lydon

Down five at the half at Mount Carmel, the DePaul Prep Rams dialed up the energy in the third quarter, went on a 14-2 run and stayed away to take an important Chicago Catholic League victory Thursday evening. Key to the victory were the 30 points scored by Rams’ senior shooting guard Rykan Woo, a high school career high. 

Mount Carmel’s young group has gained some attention in recent weeks rising in the rankings, currently No. 14, as they gain experience at the highest levels of basketball in the state. The Caravan (15-7, 4-2) starts two freshmen, Da'Kylen Heard and Ronald Johnson. Both are big, tough, can score and are getting better by the minute.

The Rams (19-3, 6-0) are focused first on winning the Chicago Catholic League and then winning a fourth consecutive state championship. The trip to 64th and Dante for the Rams was key to that first goal. They needed this tough win against the rising power that is Mount Carmel.

It did not start in the usual fashion for the Rams. The usual formula for a DePaul Prep victory is to grab a first quarter lead, survive a second quarter rebound by the opponent, build a big lead in the third quarter and coast to victory in the fourth taking time off the clock and putting the bench players in the last couple minutes.

Not Thursday. The Caravan came out rolling, trading buckets with the Rams and draining threes to take a 14-10 first quarter lead. But it was the third quarter that proved the difference.

“We picked up the energy [in the third quarter]. The first half, honestly we were just huffing and puffy out there,” said Rykan Woo.

“We weren’t bringing the energy and the excitement. When Blake [Choice] got that [dunk] we weren’t going crazy. We had to change the tempo, play with more energy.”

And so they did, the Rams dialed up the pressure, forcing multiple turnovers leading to fast break layups. They put together the 14-2 run to close out the third.

“Coach was telling us the whole day that is was a senior leader game. Our senior leaders, me, AJ [Chambers], Rashaun [Porter], Zion [Lee], we stepped up. That’s why we won the game,” Woo added.

“We had to change it up from the first half. We started trapping a little bit. [Woo] is clutch. He’s an all-state player. He’s a division one player. He stepped up for us,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

Woo’s 30-point game was not the only record he had that game. He also became a 1000-point scorer for his high school career.

“One of our coaches pointed out that they had a big 14-2 run. I didn’t realize it was that big. They turned up the pressure. . . . Some of our youth showed. We just didn’t take care of the ball,” said Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves.

With nine games left in the regular season, the Rams are still a couple games away from their first goal of winning the Catholic League. Tough CCL games remain against Brother Rice and St. Laurence. Not to mention Saturday’s matchup against No. 7 ESCC powerhouse Marist at the When Side Collide shootout at Benet. The Rams will also face No. 6 Warren Township on February 19th.

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.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mount Carmel 41-38; Win Chicago Catholic League

Here is a preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster:

By Jack Lydon

This was a heavy weight prize fight between two top teams, #4 ranked DePaul Prep (27-2, 8-0) and #7 Mount Carmel Caravan (26-5, 6-2), with top players, Jaylan McElroy and Angelo Ciaravino, for the Catholic League Championship. The Almighty must have wanted to save this game for end of season and cast the City of Chicago into a deep freeze on its regularly scheduled day causing the postponement to the end of the season.

This was not only the best game in town Monday night; it was the best game of the season and everyone knew would be. DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym as packed. There was an unconfirmed report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse snuck into the balcony seats after the game started but I did not see them.

The Rams fell behind 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Their shots were not falling. Mount Carmel scored inside early. Two things that typically do not happen. The Rams typically own the first quarter and give up very few points inside and trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept their composure. We talked about it. We have been there before. We are 13-1 in the playoffs the last two years. They have seen everything from down twelve with 2:50 to go to double overtime and overtime at Leo. They have seen a lot. It’s a thirty-two minute game,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The Rams rallied in the second quarter with stellar defense holding the Caravan to five points and going into halftime tied at 19-19. This would be one of those games decided in the last minute.

In the second half, the Rams came out of the gate scoring opening a seven-point lead at one point in the third quarter. But Mount Carmel is too good to go away quietly. The Caravan’s best player, Angelo Ciaravino, the fourth ranked player in the class of 2024, made his presence felt scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half.    

“We did a poor job on [Ciaravino] late. We had some poor execution defensively. He is that good of a player. He going to the Big Ten for a reason,” Kleinschmidt said.

The game was tied at thirty-eight each late. The defenses were tough. A steal by DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers led to a foul that stopped Chambers from a layup. The gym screamed for an intentional foul as Mount Carmel’s player wrapped up Chambers with both arms. Chambers free throw game the Rams a one-point lead.

Mount Carmel’s Ciaravino fifth foul caused another stoppage and a blizzard condemnation from the Caravan’s head coach Phil Segroves.

Two more free throws by sophomore forward Rashawn Porter game the Rams a three-point lead. The Caravan had the ball down three points and a chance to tie the game with a little over ten seconds to play. Point guard Noah Mister drove the lane, his right foot slide, he put his left for down, leaned back picking up his right foot, shot the ball which went in. A whistle rang out. The gym collectively growned thinking it was a shooting foul and Mister would have a chance to tie the game.

No. The call was traveling. The ref waived off for basket. DePaul Prep got the ball.

The Rams held on in the final few seconds winning 41-38 to secure the Chicago Catholic League championship for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Their sole Catholic League championship since the Gordon Tech days.

“First goal is done, yes,” said Kleinschmidt of the championship. “It’s everything. It’s the best league in the state by far. One of the best in the Midwest. There are a couple places to be greedy in basketball. Winning, winning it all and at the free throw line you get greedy. We are extremely proud of being undefeated in the best league in the stat and one of the best in the Midwest. 27-2, just tied a school record.”

“We just took what they game us,” said DePaul Prep’s leading scorer, senior forward PJ Chambers, with 20 points said.

“It was very important to win the Catholic League. Coach [Kleinschmidt] was very clear on what it means to win the Catholic League championship by ourselves. It’s so nice to win it all by ourselves.” Technically, the Rams had secured at least a three way share of the Championship with Brother Rice’s defeat of Mount Carmel the previous Friday.

What’s the second goal?

“State baby!” Chambers said. The Rams enter the IHSA 3A division state championship tournament next week. They open the in the Carmel Catholic regional in Mundelein on Tuesday. As the number one seed, the Rams will initially face the winner of the Grayslake North and Amundsen and then the winner of Wauconda and Carmel Catholic.

Waubonsie Valley Handles Plainfield East 65-35

I went out to Waubonsie Valley high school in Aurora to see the fourth ranked and undefeated Warriors take on conference opponent Plainfield East. I was taking pictures so I couldn’t do much more than keep track of the score but I am quite sure that Plainfield East had more turnovers in the first half than they had shots. Plainfield East did not play well.

Waubonsie Valley made them pay. The Warriors finished on layups and a couple dunks, hit some threes and showed some impressive ball movement.

I can’t say I was particularly impressed with Waubonsie’s defense. They opposed shots but they did regularly give up penetration in the paint. East’s shots mostly missed.

The Warriors handled East 65-35 in a game that lasted little more than an hour.

I wanted to see if Waubonsie Valley is really good given its gaudy win-loss record or if they just haven’t played anybody. I looked through the Warrior’s schedule. They haven’t played a ranked team but they have beaten a very good Normal Community team that is not part of Michael O’Brien’s Chicago area rankings. I saw Normal Community just edge DePaul Prep at the When Sides Collide shootout last weekend. They are big and quite good. Even so our plucky DePaul Prep Rams teams very nearly defeated Normal so I would not say Normal is a great team.

I have seen Curie, Homewood-Flossmoor and Thornton, the teams that rank ahead of Waubonsie Valley. Waubonsie is not as good as any of those teams.

As for the teams behind Waubonsie, Mount Carmel, Benet, Bloom, Downers Grove North, Warren, DePaul Prep and Brother Rice. I would have to say that most of these teams are as good or better than Waubonsie.

In a week, we will get a chance to see how good Waubonsie is when they take on #12 Bollingbrook. Mark your calendars.

That being written, 22-0 is impressive. They deserve the high rank. Going undefeated in any league, in any sport, in any conference is hard, hard, hard to do. So #4 they are and so they should stay. At least until we see how they do against Bolingbrook.

DePaul Prep Defeats Leo 62-23 on Senior Night

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Leo Friday night 62-23 at home. It was senior night. The school also honored academic standouts and hosted a faculty appreciation night. The full house saw the Rams hitting on all cylinders with significant contributions from deep into the bench.

The Rams improve their record to a previously unattained 21-2 overall and 4-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. Certainly the best record that I have seen more than two-thirds of the way through a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech season. Maybe not the toughest but the most important part of the season lies ahead—key Chicago Catholic League matchups.

The Rams have IC Catholic Providence, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, Mount Carmel and Fenwick left to play. Plus today’s game against Wisconsin powerhouse Peewaukee and the regular season finale against Benet.

One game at a time.

Mount Carmel Defeats Fenwick 55-25 to Open Catholic League Play

The Mount Carmel Caravan are for real. Period. They handled Fenwick, a pretty good team. The score was 32-8 at the half.

I wanted to see Mount Carmel this year to see if the high rank was deserved. It is. They can play defense. They can score. Angelo Ciaravino is as good as advertised. He finished with 26 points sat much of the third and fourth quarters. He seems very much improved since last season—bigger, stronger and faster than I recall he playing last year.

Mike Clark teases me about my comments on the quality of the light is area gyms. I stand by my frequent citation to universal truth codified in the third law of basketball—the most important factor in basketball is the quality of the light in the gym. I think we all know it’s true; we just don’t talk about it.

With that said, I must say the light in the Mount Carmel gym is not the best. Not enough of it and color is a little too yellow. Perhaps a capital campaign is in order. Just a thought.

I was testing out a lens just released by Canon, the RF 100-300mm, f2.8. It’s a beast. I have used the legendary Canon EF 300mm, f2.8, telephoto lens many times. It is a classic.

Canon’s new lens looks to improve that staple of sports photography by making a 100 to 300 millimeter zoom lens instead of a 300 millimeter prime lens. A zoom lens that reaches out to 300 millimeters might just take out the other staple of sports photography—the beloved 70-200mm, f2.8, telephoto lens. Basically the best lens there is.

This new 300 is heavy. Many people use old version on a monopod. I haven’t because I have mostly used it for football so I can put it down between plays. Plus I don’t like monopods. I like to sit when I shoot.

Shooting basketball with a big heavy Canon 300mm is different. One needs to hold it up a long time. If I would use it every time I shoot basketball, it would take a while to get used to it and build up the right muscles.

This new 300mm telephoto is every bit as razor sharp as it predecessor. The “throw” (the distance and time it takes to move the lens from 100 millimeters to 300 millimeters) is a little long for basketball. The throw seems to take longer that the 70-200mm.

This is not scientific testing by me. It is my initial impressions for using for an hour and a half. I will keep using it over the next few days and at the Chicago Elite Classic. I am guessing that it will work very nicely on the bigger court at UIC’s Credit 1 Arena.

Good start to the season. I am looking forward to the race in the Chicago Catholic League Blue. Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, DeLaSalle, Loyola, St. Ignatius, St. Rita, Leo, and Fenwick. These teams know each other. The winner is likely to have at least two conference losses. But we will see. Maybe one teams run through the schedule. Maybe Mount Carmel.

DePaul Prep Falls to Mount Carmel 42-41

Preview of my Inside Publications article this week.

No. 17 Mount Carmel defeats DePaul Prep 42-41

DePaul Prep Rams lost to Mount Carmel Caravan 42-41 at Mount Carmel Friday night. The Rams are struggling through an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division.

 The Rams (4-3, 0-3) opened the game outscoring the 17th ranked Caravan (7-1, 2-0) five to zero. The Caravan then went on a 10-0 run to close the quarter. They would hold the lead that eventually dwindled to a single point at the buzzer to survive a young and injured Rams team.

The early run by the Caravan was aided by some sloppy Rams ball handling. “They picked us up a little bit, trapped us a couple times when we were lazy with the ball. We have bad habits in practice right now in passing. They are leading to the game,” said Rams head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

The young Rams start three sophomores, center Jonas Johnson, guard Makai Kvamme and guard Rob Walls, one junior, PJ Chambers and one senior, guard and leading scorer Maurice Thomas. Out with injuries for the moment are junior standouts and returning starters Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy.

Despite the Rams having two of their best players on the court, they opened the season 4-0 winning the Battle of the Bridge Tournament hosted by DePaul Prep along with Lane Tech. Catholic League Blue conference play has been a different story. Coming into this game, the Rams were on a two-game losing streak in the conference play dropping games to St. Lawrence and DeLaSalle.

There are encouraging signs for the Rams. Mount Carmel’s transfer Lee Marks emerged as a force for the Caravan at last weekend’s Chicago Elite Classic. The Rams shut him down. “We scouted him pretty well. Our gap defense shut his driving lanes down a little bit. We did a nice job keeping him off the boards. He is a fantastic rebounder. He had seventeen rebounds against Laurence,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Caravan never blow the game wide open. The largest lead they managed was seven points. Then curiously, early in the third quarter, Caravan head coach Phil Segorves slowed down the pace of game. At one point midway through the fourth quarter, Caravan point guard Deandre Craig put the ball on his hip in classic style and waited for the Rams to come out and defend.

 “I think they wanted to pull us out and get us in the bonus. [Deandre] Craig is one of the two or three best point guards in the league. I think [Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segorves] wanted to put the ball senior point guard’s hands and control the game, get fouls and go to the line,” Kleinschmidt added.

The Rams chiseled away at the Caravan lead making it a one possession game for the last couple minutes. Only a questionable turn over call and foul pushed the lead to four. The Rams made it a one-point game with a three before the buzzer.

The fact that the young Rams can play with the seventh ranked CCL powerhouse Caravan has to be encouraging for Rams fans. This adversity early in the season is going to help them when they get their scorers back. “1000%. Everybody is getting minutes. This time that they are getting you normally can’t get it. And they are playing well. We are stretching our bench. When we get everybody back, we will be in good shape,” said Kleinschmidt.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for the young Rams who host 5th ranked St. Rita Mustangs next Friday the DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday. St. Rita will be riding high after defeating the 6th ranked and previously unbeaten Brother Rice Crusaders 57-51 at Brother Rice.

DePaul Prep Mens Golf Falls to Mount Carmel 166 to 170

On Thursday (September 24, 2020), the DePaul Prep mens golf team lost to Mount Carmel 164 to 170 at Jackson Park Golf Course.

Assistant golf coach and DePaul College Prep history teacher Steve Cadwallader lead a young Rams squad against Mount Carmel. Playing for the Rams were freshman Jack Kennedy (Queen of Angels), freshman Wyatt Carlson (Chicago City Day School/Coonley), sophomore Alex Johnson (St. Benedict), sophomore Emmitt Miller (St. Alphonsus), sophomore Aiden Williams (Nettelhorst) and senior Colon Pilcher (St. Alphonsus).

The nine-hole match took the best four scores of the six Rams playing. Fourteen year-old freshman phenom Wyatt Carlson lead the Rams with a four over 39. Emmitt Miller shot 42, Alex Johnson 44, Colin Pilcher 45 and Aiden Williams 49.

Mount Carmel’s junior Ahmad Raoul shot a three over 38 and lead the Caravan to victory.

“We decided to start a golf program because people at one of the very first open houses . . . talked about their desire to play golf in high school. I decided right then and there that DePaul Prep needed to start a golf program so families who wanted to play golf could do so at DePaul Prep,” DePaul Prep Athletic Director Patrick Mahoney told me.

“Combine that with a couple of parents who were great in helping us find courses and spreading the word to other families and the ball started rolling. And we could not have done it without Justin Lane who was a soccer coach. He really wanted to coach golf,” Mahoney continued.

School leadership got on board quickly.

“[DePaul College Prep] President Mary Dempsey, Principal Megan Stanton Anderson and Lisa Pilcher, Director of Finance and Operations, were extremely generous in talking through starting a golf program and allowing us to budget for it and get it off the ground.

DePaul Prep also has a woman’s golf team. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get out to any of their matches. I hope to get to one this week.

The men’s golf team has had mixed results in their inaugural season: wins against Fenwick and De La Salle, losses against Marmian, Loyola and now Mount Carmel, fifth out of six at Montini’s tournament and a postponed match against St. Laurence.

The inaugural Ram Invitational at Ridgemoor CC which teed off Saturday (Sept 26th) included Fenwick, Mount Carmel and St. Ignatius. I couldn’t make it out to Ridgemoor so I will have to fill you in later on that.

As for the photos . . .

This was my first-time shooting golf and it shows. Frankly, these photos are crap. The exposure is way off. The color looks funny. Jack Kennedy’s face is so washed out. Not my finest work; not even good. I worried more about composition than making properly exposed photos. If people were not waiting for these photos, I would not publish them.

I want to thank Sun-Times and Max Preps photographer Kirsten Stickney (Twitter: @KirstenStickney, Instragram: KirstenStickneyPhotography) for encouraging me to shoot golf. She gently nudged me out of my comfort zone. Clearly, these photos show just how much I have to learn about photography. When I start making good photos of golf, I will have Kirsten thank for making me a better photographer.

Golf is challenging to photograph. It is hard to get good photos of golfers wearing hats and always looking down. I would like to express my appreciation to Alex Johnson and Jack Kennedy for not wearing caps.

However, my main concern was the loud shutter on my Canon DSLRs. The loud shutter noise during a golfer’s swing is an unacceptable distraction. Consequently, I got a lot shots of the golfers putting.

The late afternoon sun casts shadows. Many of the teeing grounds were backlit to the sun which made for dark foregrounds and shadowed faces. I pushed the ISO higher than I would have liked for daytime.

Shutter speed was an adventure. As one might imagine golf clubs and golf balls are moving pretty fast. I could not set the shutter speed as high as I wanted.

I am certain to get out to shoot more golf matches in the future—hopefully the CCL and GCAC tournaments this week.

DePaul Prep Falls to Mount Carmel 7-0

The DePaul Prep Rams lost to Mount Carmel Tuesday afternoon 7-0. The Rams fell behind quickly to a very talented Mount Carmel Caravan team (1-2-1). The Caravan jumped out to an early lead and controlled the ball most of the game. The Rams record falls to 0-5 but they look to rebound tomorrow against CCL rival Fenwick.

I haven’t photographed a soccer game in a long time. Max Preps talented photographer Kristen Stickney was also at the game. She shot only with a 400mm lens from one spot for the whole game. I will be interested to see her shots. I think her goal was more about capturing photos of individuals. I was there just to get more of the action. Still, I need more practice at soccer games. I will have to get out to a couple more games this season.