DePaul Prep Pastes St. Francis 67-22; Lane Handles St. Rita 71-32

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

By Jack Lydon

It was a weekend of blowouts for Northside neighbors DePaul Prep and Lane Tech. The No. 1 ranked Rams (7-1) handled St. Francis (Wheaton) 67-22 Friday evening. The Champions (4-5) handled St. Rita 71-32 at the Team Rose Chicagoland Shootout early Saturday morning.

Despite the loss to national powerhouse La Lumiere at the preceding weekend’s Chicago Elite Classic, the DePaul Prep Rams are rolling. The Rams smothered the Spartans forcing outside shots and getting all the rebounds. Scoring inside and outside DePaul Prep’s size advantage was evident. They jumped out to a 19-0 lead on St. Francis (3-4) holding the Spartans scoreless until seconds left in the first quarter. And it wasn’t that close.

Despite the lopsided score, it was interesting to see the starting lineup for the Rams emerge after shifting starting lineups early in the season. The Rams have three returning starters from last year’s 3A state champions, Lashaun Porter, Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers. Rams’ sophomore forward Blake Choice and senior Sacred Heart—Griffin transfer, Zion Lee have grabbed the starting roles for the Rams. Even so, junior forward/center Magnus “Gus” Johnson and senior guard Pat Lovell are quickly off the bench.

Choice’ performance against St. Francis helped his effort to cement that place in the lineup with a big game that included four three-points field goals in the first half and five total in his three quarters of play. Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt confirmed he has settled on the starting lineup complimenting Choice on his improved shooting in recent games.

“I have been working on my shooting, it paid off today,” Humboldt Park resident Choice said.

“It’s a learning process,” Choice said of his starting role. “I am willing to do what my coaches tell me to do starting on defense and eventually my offense will come.

The Rams have some big games coming up this week with a late Sunday matchup against No. 3 ranked Kankakee and the Kays top rated players No. 1 ranked Lincoln Williams and No. 8 ranked EJ Hazelett at the Team Rose Chicagoland Shootout.   

The blowouts continued Saturday morning at Team Rose. The Lane Tech Champions rallied from string of tough losses against good teams, New Trier, Whitney Young and Lincoln Park, with a convincing 71-32 win over Chicago Catholic League White’s, St. Rita Mustangs.

“We have a lot of guys that can get to the rim and be effective. We have had a really tough stretch. Eight games and five top 25 teams. We told our guys, it’s gonna pay off. Today we showed that playing that tough schedule is helping us,” said Lane head coach Nick LoGalbo.

The Champions were led by 6’8” senior forward Matt Szafoni with 26 points in three quarters of basketball. Szafoni leads his Champions squad this year which contains seven sophomores. One of those sophomores is starter forward Cole Christian who finished with 18 points against St. Rita.

“Opening the game with a make definitely helps the confidence. That is something that I have struggled with the last couple games. But hitting a three with one of the new sets that we have just implemented is good for the team but also good for my confidence,” Szafoni said.

“[Matt] is evolving as a leader, him evolving as a playmaker and evolving as a rebounder are all things we are excited about,” LoGalbo said of Szafoni.

“We start four sophomores. But what’s really fun is that the sophomores are buying in and being stars in their roles. The seniors are leading and we are playing together.”

DePaul Prep Defeats Loyola 55-45

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

By Jack Lydon

It was an electric atmosphere in DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym Friday night. The #1 ranked DePaul Prep Rams hosted the #5 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers in the first Chicago Catholic League Blue game of the year for each squad. The Ramblers brought a big crowd into the City and the usual DePaul Prep students and supporters showed up en masse. The band was playing. It was high school basketball at its best.

DePaul Prep jumped out to a second quarter lead as they often do. Loyola (4-1) could not catch them. The Rams won 55-45 improving to 5-0 on the young season but more importantly grabbing a big advantage in the struggle to win the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division, always the Rams’ first goal of a season.

The story of the game has to be DePaul Prep’s impressive defensive effort in the second quarter. Trailing 10-9 at the end of the first, the Rams just dialed up the defense holding Loyola to just two buckets and five points. The lead moved up and down a little from there but the Rams would hold that ten-point lead at the buzzer.

That defensive effort denied the Ramblers the outside shots they would need if they wanted to beat the bigger DePaul Prep team. Loyola got its first points of the second quarter on a three-pointer from senior Charles Ellis two minutes in but the only other points came on an inside putback by senior Broderick Munsey-Johnson with under 10 seconds to play in the half.

“We got down to guarding. It's a tough guard with all that movement and excellent switching. We prepped for it. We had a three-day prep. We feel confident with three days prep but we also have anxiety trying to play Loyola. It’s the toughest guard all year,” said DePaul Prep’s legendary coach Tom Kleinschmidt. 

Defense is great but a team needs to score too. The Rams outscored the Ramblers 17-5 in the quarter. Senior star and Brown University commit, Rykan Woo, lead the Rams with 19 points, including 11 in the decisive second quarter.

It was something of a breakout game for senior transfer from Springfield’s Sacred Heart-Griffin high school, Zion Lee.

“What we do is a lot. It took Z [Zion Lee] a couple games, actually we thought it take him until Christmas, but we glad to see [it tonight]. He had some big buckets tonight for us. He rebounded the heck out a ball. He was great for us. I am very happy for him,” Kleinschmidt said.

DePaul Prep turns right around and faces La Lumiere in the Chicago Elite Classic Saturday afternoon. La Lumiere is a Porter, Indiana boarding school and nationally ranked basketball powerhouse with multiple players committed to play at division one colleges, included Devin Cleveland, a transfer from CPS’s Kenwood Academy. Cleveland was widely regarded a top, if not the top, high school player in the Chicago last year.

The Rams look to repeat their upset win over Mater Dei, a Santa Anna, California nationally ranked powerhouse at last year’s Chicago Elite Classic.

“Mater Dei is good. They are really good. They are nationally ranked. But La Lumiere is a different level,” Kleinschmidt said.

A different level. I guess will see exactly what level DePaul Prep is on early in this season where the Rams look to win a fourth straight state championship.

Lane Falls to DePaul Prep 53-24

[A preview of this week’s piece in the Inside-Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lane Tech had no answer for Rashaun Porter. DePaul Prep senior forward Rashaun Porter, a early candidate for player of the year, put up 26 points against Lane Tech in the finale of this year’s Batte of the Bridge Tournament at Lane Tech. The #1 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (3-0) defeated the Lane Tech Champions (1-2) 53-24 Wednesday night.

The Champions did a great job stopping DePaul Prep’s other Division 1 recruit Rykan Woo (Brown University) holding him scoreless in the first half.

“That was the game plan. But we did not do our game plan with Porter,” said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo.

“It was the exact opposite last year where we really cut out Porter, but we had Dalton [Scantlebury, playing for Penn this year] and [DePaul Prep senior guard Rykan Woo] really went off on us,” LoGalbo added.

“So I thought we did a pretty good job on [Woo]. That was our game plan to cut those two out as best we could and make others beat us. But Porter really killed us.”

With Lane bringing out the defense to stop Woo, the Lane opened up for Porter.

“It just opened up there really. I didn’t even notice that Woo was cold. I thought he was pretty good. He just did some things that just can’t be put on the stat sheet,” said Lashaun Porter.

Porter, a commit to Division 1 Toledo University, has become one of the top players in the City this season. He is ranked #5 in PrepHoops.com’s class of the 2026 players behind only Whitney Young’s Marquis Clark for top players in the City.

Somewhat unbelieveably, Rashaun Porter has been on state championship winning teams every year of high school. The DePaul Prep Rams won the 2A state championship in 2022 and 3A in 2023 and 2024. One might think he would be resting on his laurels, maybe looking ahead to college a little.

Not Rashaun.

“I lost weight over the course of four years. I've lost a lot of weight, trying to get slimmer and prepare for college and bulk up and using more strength instead of fat,” Porter said.

“It’s boosted my game tremendously. Made me quicker and faster. Then I got in the weight room, so I did get stronger.”

It’s early in the year and the Rams are still growing into their new starting line-up. Porter, Woo and senior point guard AJ Chambers return to the starting line-up from last year’s 3A championship team. Added to the starting lineup are juniors Gus Johnson who takes his brother Jonas’ spot. Jonas Johnson now plays at DePaul University. New to the line-up and the school is Zion Lee, a transfer from Springfield’s Sacred Heart—Griffin high school.

While obviously pleased with the win and the performance of his start player Porter, DePaul Prep head coach and Gordon Tech legend, Tom Kleinschimdt was circumspect about the early 3-0 for his Rams.

“We are we are not where we need to be three games in. We are usually a little bit better shape. I think you can see it in our woeful shooting percentage from three,” Kleinschmidt said.

“I think we left a lot out there today. I'm not sitting here knocking my team. I'm just saying I think we got a lot to work on, a lot to improve on. It's got to happen quick. We've got Hyde Park Sunday who's really good. We’ve got Loyola then we’ve got La Lumiere. So it better happened quickly.”

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout Day 1

I couldn’t wait to get over the Riverside-Brookfield High School for the annual R-B Shootout. I got there like four hours early. R-B Coach Mike Reingruber and all the folks at R-B do such a great job. It is chance for a high school basketball mid-summer overdose. I love it.

It was five straight games for me from noon to 4:45.

Kankakee v. Evanston (Benet v. Hinsdale Central)

I was very interested to see Kankakee. The Kays have the top prospect in the class of 2026 according to Prep Hoops, Lincoln Williams. I was my first chance to see him in action. Kankakee also got a recent transfer, EJ Hazelett, Jr. They are a very good-looking squad. Big. Talented. Shots fall.  

The Evanston Wildkits strolled into the gym at 11:42, a few minutes before the noon start. The Wildkits were significantly smaller than Kankakee, like everyone of their starters was shorter than the smallest Kays player. That didn’t much matter. The scrappy Kits jumped out a lead. The Kays fought back and tied at the end of regulation but Evanston won in OT.

When Kankakee dials up the intensity, they looked scary.

The great thing about R-B is one can watch two games at the same time. I couldn’t exactly cover and photography two games. But I was able to watch Benet v. Hinsdale at the same time as the Kankakee game. Benet just looked awesome. Jayden Wright is a money player.  

DePaul Prep v. Rich Township (St. Ignatius v. Rock Island)

The Rams come out hungry. Rashaun Porter was going to the hoop. It kind of looked like a fullback powering to the endzone with Shaun charging down the lane for a dunk. AJ Chamber was a comfortable as can be on the point.

Got a look at the transfer in from Sacred Heart Griffin, senior forward Zion Lee. It seemed like a little bit of a slower start for Zion than it was for the other Rams but it sure looks like he will fit right in.

Then there is returning senior Rykan Woo. The Oxford English Dictionary has a photo of Rykan as the definition of “money.” He does it all. At a stretch in the second half of the Rams’ game against Stevenson, the Rams had gone cold. Nothing was falling. The Patriots cut the double-digit lead to two. Rykan poured in two straight three pointers. Money. Rams took control.

Magnus “Gus” Johnson, Jonas’s younger brother, has stepped into his brother’s role as the other big man beside Rashaun Porter. You might not see as much of the four-guard set from the Rams this year as you did last year. But we will get plenty of three guard sets with the six-man rotation including sophomore guard Blake Choice.

Lane v. Thornton

We have a whole new set of Champions this year. Matt Szafoni returns as one of only four seniors. I counted eight sophomores on the squad. They all look talented and athletic but not quite the usual polished group of playmakers we have seen from Nick Logalbo’s teams in recent years.

The first day of R-B did not disappoint. Getting get some sleep now to be ready for Day 2.