[Preview of this week’s piece in the Inside—Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
The No. 1 ranked DePaul Prep Rams are rolling and just getting better. Friday night’s 59-40 victory over No. 6 St. Ignatius (9-1) at the Tom Winiecki Gym on the former Gordon Tech campus moved the Rams to 10-1. Earlier in the week, the Rams defeated the No. 3 team, Kankakee Kays, 56-49 at the Team Rose Shootout.
The Rams are 11 games into their 29-game regular season and they look every bit the part of the No. 1 team. This success comes as DePaul Prep seeks its fourth straight state championship. One of those championships was in class 2A and two in class 3A but this year the Rams have graduated into the top class, 4A and will face the top competition in Illinois high school basketball.
First things first. The Rams needed to get past the St. Ignatius Wolfpack which is on a bit of a historic run of its won in recent years having advanced to the state finals multiple times. Coach Matt Monroe has his Wolfpack stalking again this year coming into this key Chicago Catholic League match up with a gaudy 9-0 record which includes a win over Benet Academy.
“We want to establish the inside with Shaun [DePaul Prep’s senior forward Rashaun Porter],” said Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt of his plan for St. Ignatius
“We do want to establish the paint first, then we work inside out. We were trying to put Rykan’s guy in ball screens or down screens with Shaun [Porter] because Shaun’s a big body; it’s hard to get around him,” he said of his plan for the Wolfpack.
That’s largely what happened. Rashaun Porter put up eights inside in the first quarter. After committing his second foul late in the first quarter, junior forward Gus Johnson, younger brother of former Ram and now DePaul University Blue Demon basketball player Jonas Johnson, came in. Then it was Rykan Woo’s turn. The Rams’ senior shooting guard dropped in nine points of his own in the second quarter and the Rams lead 38-17 at the half.
“Gus Johnson came in and give up big minutes. He had four quick points. He had two big rebounds and a block. I am trying to find him more minutes. Sometimes when we play a spread team, it’s hard to have three bigs out there but he played great, great minutes for us,” Kleinschmidt of his junior forward.
It’s tough to erase even a small deficit against DePaul Prep but 21 points would be tough for the Wolfpack to overcome in the second half.
Rashaun Porter was fired up after the victory.
“We all just wanted to come in with a passion. We know its’s a big game. It’s a big rivalry game. We just wanted to go for the kill. The best thing to do is win at home with your guys,” Rashaun said.
DePaul Prep’s first goal every year is the win the Chicago Catholic League. It’s no different this year and the Rams have already taken two big steps in that direction with wins over No. 8 ranked Loyola Academy and No. 6 ranked St. Ignatius. But there is still a long way to go with Mount Carmel, St. Laurence and Brother Rice still to come.
“It’s another big one. We needed Loyola and Ignatius early. To have those two in our rearview mirror helps that we can kind of catch our breath, work on our weaknesses now before we get into the dogdays of January,” Klienschmidt said.
State championships or not, the Rams are still focused on two-thirds of the season yet to play. They will need to be, Pontiac, the mother of all holiday tournaments, is next.
