DePaul Prep defeats St. Francis de Sales 72-59

The DePaul Prep Rams (9-1) hosted the St. Francis de Sales Pioneers (0-6) Tuesday evening at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

One can imagine what might happen. The Rams jumped out to an early lead and cruised.

Big Tim Shabazz told me that St. Francis was pretty good and is a contender in 1A. They obviously struggled against the number one team in the state but They can score. They shot the ball well. Pioneers’ senior Kalvin Leonard scored 19 points. He can play.

I decided to do something a little different with the photos. I used a 300mm and shot from the stands behind the scorer’s table during the first half. I just wanted to do something different. But I did keep score. I couldn’t help myself.

Final score was Rams 72, Pioneers 59.

DePaul Prep defeats No. 3 Kankakee 56-49

Lincoln Williams and EJ Hazelett are two of the best high school basketball players I have ever seen, certainly this year.

And the Rams beat them. By seven points. Even though the Rams uncharacteristically got in a little foul trouble, they beat Kankakee in a similar fashion to the way they usually win—ball security, tough switching defense, free throws and taking time off the clock at the end.

Twenty-one points including fourteen free throws for Rams’ senior guard Rykan Woo. Eleven straight free throws in the first half by Woo blunted the physical smackdown Kankakee was trying to put on the Rams. I only remember Rykan missing one free throw.

Woo was ebullient after the game. “I am confident in myself. I know what I am capable of doing. I have played at the highest level. State championship games. Played on the UAA circuit. It prepared me,” Rykan said.

When asked about the No. 1 ranking, “practice is all we focus on. Having good practices and stacking them. That’s all we focus on,” Woo said.

“We are a physical team too. We are not going to back down in a fight.”

Free throw shooting was the difference in the game. “We were 25 of 28 from the line. That’s what won the game for us,” Rams’ coach Tom Kleinschmidt confirmed.

“We wanted to make sure that [Kankakee’s Lincoln] Williams saw two. Meaning we tagged him and when he went to drive we came early and doubled him. Hazelett we didn’t do it as much on. We figured we had to give something up. Williams is averaging 32 a game in his last four games so made him work and I think it showed,” said Kleinschmidt.

Some others have said that the result might have been different with a shot clock. I am not so sure about that. DePaul has played with a shot clock and still won.

It’s early in the season. There is a long way to go. Boy has it been entertaining. One big game after another. And next No. 6 St. Ignatius and then Pontiac after that. (I shouldn’t look past St. Francis de Sales but I am not too worried.)

We will just have to work through the schedule and see what happens at the end of the year. But, honestly, the possibility of four straight state championships never quite goes away. Part of me wants to enjoy this thing in real time, or appreciate it at least. So I will indulge myself, but only a little.

St. Francis de Sales tonight at the Tom Winiecki Gym.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Francis de Sales 66-37

DePaul Prep Rams (17-1, 2-0) defeated St. Francis de Sales (5-10, 2-1) 66-37 at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym on Tuesday. Rams face Mount Carmel at Mount Carmel on Friday in big Chicago Catholic League Blue matchup.

These are some photos from tonight’s game.

DePaul Prep Rams Handle St. Francis de Sales 63-11

When I was a kid in the ‘70’s, St. Francis de Sales had one of the best football teams in the state. I remember going to Elk Grove High School to see them play St. Viator in one of the first IHSA playoff games. As I recall, the Pioneers beat the crap out of our beloved Lions. And that was no ordinary Lions team. They were good. The Lions won the ESCC in football every year when I was a kid.

Today, I am here in the Tom Winiecki Gym at Gordon Tech campus of DePaul Prep. The St. Francis de Sales sophomore team has 6 players.

It makes me kind of sad, but I understand that Catholic schools change with their communities. Hegewich of 1975 isn’t what it is today. For that matter, the 33rd Ward isn’t what it was in 1975.

I have learned over the years that Chicago Catholic League teams treat each other with respect (except for the Brother Rice football team and it current and thankfully outgoing coach, but that’s a whole other story).

I am glad St. Francis de Sales is here. Even though I was raised in the ESCC, I am a CCL guy. My dad was a graduate of St. Phillip, a long ago closed Catholic high school in Garfield Park. There was no high school at St. Benedict in the 1940’s. Even though he lived at Irving and Oakley, his widowed mother sent him to St. Phillip far away on the West Side so he could get a Catholic education. My dad taught me to love the Catholic League. I developed a healthy dislike for some of the fancy schools.

I don’t dislike the fancy schools anymore. I, myself, am Jesuit educated at the university level, but I still want to beat the crap out of their CCL schools.

I covered the DePaul Prep v. St. Francis de Sales game and not some other games today, like Lane at Lincoln Park, that I could have, and ought to have—the Jesuits taught me the importance of the word, “ought”) so I could get some shots of DePaul Prep players that don’t play much.

I’m glad I did. The young men at St. Francis de Sales should also have their effort recorded. No matter what else happens in their lives, they can always say, I played varsity basketball in the Chicago Catholic League.

I told that to my son some years ago. He rolled his eyes. But I suspect he will take some pride in years to come for having played varsity football and basketball in the Chicago Catholic League.