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 Handles Hyde Park 60-28; St. Ignatius Clips Benet 69-65

Went to Tom Winiecki to see the DePaul Prep Rams first home game of the year against Hyde Park then decided to hurry down to St. Ignatius to catch the end of the St. Ignatius v. Benet. Glad I did. The Rams handled a good Hyde Park squad and #22 St. Ignatius upset #2 Benet.

I was a little late making it to Gordon for the game. I got there with a minute left in the half and the Rams lead the Thunderbirds 33-11. The Rams defense was locked in.

Rykan Woo lead the Rams with 17. Lashaun Porter had 10. It was good to see Rams’ transfer Zion Lee put some points on the board. He is fitting into his role the line-up and adding some points. He finished with 8.

Despite the lopsided scores in the Battle of the Bridge, the Rams didn’t exactly look like they were hitting on all cylinders. They looked pretty good today. Defense, offense. I bet they could play special teams too if need be. It was good to see this new team back in the Tom Winiecki Gym playing fast when need be and installing the shut down defense too.

The game went quick so I quickly went down to St. Ignatius to catch the end of the St. Ignatius v. Benet game.

I arrived at the Gentile Gym with a minute left in the third quarter with the Wolfpack trailing Benet 48-49. It was back-and-forth and back-and-forth.

Tied at 59 each at 1:29, Benet grabbed a one point lead. St. Ignatius’ senior guard Nico Harris dropped in a three, giving the Wolfpack a two point lead. Rebounds and free throws would seal the upset victory over the very good #2 ranked Benet Redwings.

I know it’s early. Benet is very good; some say a #1B ranking. This game was more about how good St. Ignatius is. Matt Monroe’s Wolpack are at the top of the Chicago Catholic League with Loyola and DePaul Prep. They will obviously move up in the rankings. I expect them to be around the top at the end of the season too.

We start right into the Catholic League schedule at the end of the week. #1 DePaul Prep faces #12 Loyola at Tom Winiecki on Friday. #22 St. Ignatius will see DeLaSalle on Friday.

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.