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).
