DePaul Prep Handles Deerfield 55-24 in Steve Pappas Shootout

The DePaul Prep Rams (15-2, 6-0) defeated the Deerfield High School Warriors 55-25 in the final game of the second annual Steve Pappas Shootout Saturday evening (January 11, 2020). It wasn’t that close.

The Rams handled the Warriors from the opening tip. The Rams defensive pressure gave Deerfield fits. They had trouble moving the ball. DePaul’s Tyler Johnson repeatedly picket the pocket of the Warriors’ point guard like he was a gypsy in a Paris subway. The Rams finished on the offensive end as well.

I guess I was expecting Deerfield to be better. Maybe I was just expecting a competitive game because the preceding games were so good. I seem to remember some pre-season talk that Deerfield was good and that it would be a contender with its move to 3A. Deerfield will be in the Grayslake Sectional and will have to contend with Notre Dame, St. Viator and St. Patrick; not likely to be Deerfield’s year.

It was just Tom Kleinschmidt’s Rams taking care of business—as usual. I guess I expected that this year’s Rams would not be a good as last year’s 3A third place finishers with stars like Perry Cowen, Raheem Anthony and Pavle Pantovic. The record to date suggests otherwise. At this point last year, the Rams were 13-4, pretty good. This year’s group is 15-2 with wins over ranked teams Niles North and Marian Catholic. The Rams opened the season ranked #21 and are #11 at the moment.

Coming up the Rams enter the meat of the schedule including all seven games in the Chicago Catholic League Blue: St. Francis de Sales, Montini, Peoria Manuel, St. Laurence, Brother Rice, Benet, St. Joseph, De La Salle, Fenwick, Loyola, St. Ignatius and Mather.

“I’ve said it before and I will say it again,” win the Catholic League.

Loyola Edges St. Viator 40-39 in OT

If you like defense, you will like this year’s #19 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers. The Ramblers (17-1, 6-0) edged the St. Viator Lions (11-6, 2-1) 40-39 in the second annual Steve Pappas Shootout at DePaul College Prep Saturday afternoon.

The Ramblers win by playing defense. They just wear you down in their zone defense until you turn the ball over. St. Viator lacked the three point shooter to loosen that zone but the Lions fought and got some inside points. The Lions also played equally good defense.

With a chance to win with a few seconds left, St. Viator’s standout Connor Kochera could not get a shot off before the buzzer and there you have it. 40-39. Another eighth grade score in Loyola game.

Marian Catholic Shocks Morgan Park 71-69

The Marian Catholic Spartans (13-4, 3-1) upset the #8 Morgan Park Mustangs (9-6, 3-1) 71-69 last night at DePaul Prep’s televised Steve Pappas Shootout.

The Spartans hung around and hung around all game, slowing erasing a small deficit late in the game. Morgan Park had all kinds of chances to win. They just missed shots in the lane they ordinarily make. Marian didn’t.

Marian’ s senior guard Ahron Ulis played as well as I have seen him play. I did not get any stats on the game he had a lot of points. Marian Catholic as a team impressed me. I saw them lose against Notre Dame. The Dons handled them even without Anthony Sayles. Granted it is tough to go to Notre Dame and win a conference game, especially this year. DePaul Prep dropped them in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. Frankly, I expected more out of the Spartans.

I saw it yesterday. When they play like that, they can play with anyone.

It was fun to see Ulis matched up on Morgan Park top prospect senior Adam Miller. For much of the game, Marian was in a box-and-one with Ulis shadowing Miller all over the court. It seemed at points that Ulis got under Miller’s skin. I can’t say how effective the box-and-one actually was, but it was fun to watch.

Very high level basketball. A marked contract to the Loyola/St. Viator game a few hours before. Not that that was not high level, just a different kind of high level. Loyola would prefer to score as few points as necessary to win. Frustrating to watch; exasperating to play against. But an interesting and effective style.

Taft Stuns Von Steuben 52-50

The Von Steuben Panthers (7-7, 4-1) hosted rival Taft Eagles (13-5, 4-1) at Northeastern Illinois University for an important game between leaders of the CPS White North Division.

Taft lead the game for only 3.2 seconds. But when those are the last 3.2 seconds, well that’s the important part.

The Eagles tied the game at 50 with 58 seconds to play. The Panthers brought the ball up and were content to run down the clock and take a last shot.

With thirteen seconds on the clock, Panther point guard Sr. Jerry Karr drove the right side of lane. Taft guard Alexei Vlahos tipped a pass. Taft’s Dexter Stigall grabbed the deflection and raced up court for a layup to give Taft its first lead of the game. He missed.

Trailing the play was Taft’s senior guard Matt Leach who in one motion, rebounded the ball and dropped it in the hoop giving Taft its first lead of the game with 3.2 to play.

Stunned, Von Steuben didn’t call time out. They inbounded the ball for a full court last shot. It missed. Taft had pulled off the unlikely comeback after not playing defense or shooting well throughout the preceding thirty minutes.

Taft 52, Von Steuben 50.

The White-North now sits in a four-way tie at the top between Taft, Schurz, Von Steuben and Mather.

Curie Defeats Bogan 69-66

Last year’s 4A third place finisher #1 ranked Curie Condors (13-1, 4-0) hosted last year’s 3A runner-up #4 Bogan Bengals (14-2, 4-1) in a showdown of the current top teams in the CPS Red-South Central Division. The Condors came into the game hot off their victory at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament with a 3-0 conference and a 12-1 overall record. Bogan was hot too, and confident. I am not sure I have seen a team with such swagger as Bogan.

Bogan showed up for their 5:00 p.m. game at 4:56. When I pointed this out to someone at the game, he said, “You must not get to too many Public League games.” Well, now that I think about it, a lot of the games do start late. I must not have I noticed because I am rarely early myself.  

The first quarter was tight with neither team seeming like it could get in any rhythm. In the second quarter, Curie took control going on an 21 to 9 run and took a 39-30 lead into the locker room.

In the third, Curie charged back despite Raheen Hinton’s cold shooting. Elijah Pickens and Saiveon Williams came through for the Condors with clutch defense and inside points done the stretch. The Bengals did not help themselves with missed free throws late in the third quarter which would come back to haunt them.

The officials called a lot of fouls in this game. It seemed like every player on the floor was playing with four fouls at the end. Both coaches were going crazy over the foul calls. I don’t think the problem was the lack of fouls but the lateness of the whistles.

But that is just me. I am not really watching the refs through my camera lens. Neither am I in any position to criticize the refs. It’s a very tough job. (I officiated a parents v. grade school kids game years ago. Even that was hard. I took a lot of grief—in a kids v. parents game. Can one imagine a CPS game between top teams? No thanks.) 

Curie held off furious charges by Bogan throughout the fourth quarter. The Condors stayed just out of reach and closed with a 69-66 victory to take the lead in the Red-South Central Division.

Still plenty of basketball to play including the City Championship. Looking forward to it.

As for the photos, I like the Curie gym. It was my first trip there. There is not a great deal of light but it is better than most and has good color. I boosted the ISO higher than I would like but the photos looked okay. I hope you like them.

DePaul Prep Handles Ridgewood 74-41

The second half of the 2019-2020 high school basketball season began Monday evening with the DePaul Prep Rams hosting the Ridgewood High School Rebels. The Rams defeated the Rebels 74-41. The Rebels were frankly just out-manned by the #11 ranked DePaul squad. The early first quarter pressure helped the Rams jump out the an early lead. The eventual outcome never seemed in doubt.

DePaul moved to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue. It is a busy week for the Rams. The St. Rita Mustangs come to the Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday and the Steve Pappas Shootout is Saturday with the Rams facing Deerfield at 7:30 p.m. Don’t forget to set your DVR's to record the game which will be televised on WCIU. After you come out and see the Rams victory over Deerfield, you can go home an rewatch it.

DePaul Prep Season So Far, What's Next?

Ten games into the 2019-2020 season so far and the DePaul Prep Rams sport an impressive 9-1 overall record and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams only loss was to #3 ranked Notre Dame. At this point last year, the Rams had an identical record with their only loss being to Benet Academy.

On the eve of the second phase of the season, the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, the Rams record is not entirely unexpected given the schedule so far. But I am particularly impressed with how the Rams have won. They have not played like a young team making a lot of mistakes. They rarely trail in games. They just go about their business and methodically take down opponents. Not flashy. Not frantic. Businesslike, steady and determined.

Tyler Johnson has stepped up as the team’s main scorer. And score he does. I don’t have exact stats (which is a weakness of this report but I can’t take photos and keep stats). Tyler must be averaging over 20 points a game. Lance Mosley is solid as a rock in terms of points, defense and rebounds. His three point shooting propelled the Rams to victory against Leo on Friday.

Rasheed Bello has impressed as well. I didn’t get to sophomore games last year. I heard he was good and that the coaches were very high on him, but I hadn’t seen him. I have seen him now. There was a moment in the Providence game early in the third quarter when the Rams were in the midst of a 22-0 run, with the game well in hand and the Rams in no real danger of losing, when I saw Rasheed Bello take off done the court trying to get back on defense as if his life depended on it. He was playing as hard as he could with the game well in hand—extra effort that one might expect at the end of an important game, late in the season.

I ought not have started writing about individual players. I don’t have the ink to write about every player. My leaving out the others is no reflection on them. It’s more of a reflection of the amateurishness of this blog. But I will say that the whole team shows a maturity that belies its tender years. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming phases, we have the Christmas tournament, the CCL schedule and then the 3A playoffs. I know I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, but that is what I do here. I indulge in the foolish luxury of playing out the season in my head and examining the possibilities.

The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic is a good tournament. It’s well run and spectator friendly. (There is no media room with tables to work at but that’s a problem for only a few geeks like me—but a problem nonetheless that ought to be addressed!) The field is large with a couple ranked teams, DePaul, Marian Catholic, Stevenson. St. Rita, also. The Rams have made it into the final four of the tournament that last couple years, falling to eventual champion St. Rita in the semi-final in 2017 and Marian Catholic last year.

Joe Henricksen just published his holiday tournament preview basically suggesting anyone of the ranked teams, Stevenson, Marian Catholic or DePaul Prep could win. He also wrote some complimentary words about Tyler Johnson. The HCHC will be another test for the Rams.
As the bracket lines up, the Rams face Richards tomorrow night, then probably home team Hinsdale Central or Westinghouse on Thursday evening. If they get past those teams, they will have #8 ranked Marian Catholic (7-2, 1-1) on Friday night at 8:30. That will be tough. I saw Notre Dame handle Marian Catholic. Given they way the Rams played Notre Dame, I don’t see any reason to be too afraid of Marian Catholic. Get past Marian and you’re looking at #18 Stevenson or #9 Homewood-Flossmoor. Definitely doable but quite a feat if done.

Then the bulk of the season comes after the tournaments. Fourteen games in January and February including tough non-conference games against Deerfield, Peoria Manual and Benet. At the end, come the all-import Chicago Catholic League deciding games against Fenwick, Loyola and St. Ignatius. I have to think there will be a couple upsets in conference play and the top teams will come into the final games with at least one loss each leaving the head-to-head matchups to decide the League champ. It seems to always come down to beating Loyola, Fenwick and St. Ignatius. Achieving an accomplishment like winning the Catholic League is hard. Winning the Catholic League has been the goal of the season to me. When I was a kid I remember my dad talking this his school, St. Phillip, now long closed, playing in the Catholic League. It meant something him even as an old man. I have written it before and I will write it again, “First things first; win the Catholic League.”

I am not going to preview the playoffs with two thirds of the season to play. That day will come. And sooner than I would like. Only seventy-three days left in the season. Enjoy them while they last.

And as always, Go Rams.  

DePaul Prep Defeats Leo 71-54

The DePaul Prep Rams traveled to Leo to take on the Lions in a Chicago Catholic League Blue crossover game. It was a tight game until the third quarter when the Rams went on a run and ended up with the Rams winning 71-54.

Team Rose Shootout 2019

It was a busy weekend of basketball. Whitney Young v. Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep v. Providence on Friday night. Then the Team Rose Shootout on Saturday and Sunday.

I love the Team Rose Shootout. It has a real gym-rat feel. The Chicago Elite Classic is fancy. Wintrust has fabulous light. But for pure basketball pleasure, the Team Rose Shootout is it. So many knowledgeable people to talk to. So many good players and good teams. Had some blowouts but all well played games.

Of the 900 games (14 actually), I got to see six. I really wanted to see Bloom and Orr, neither of whom I had not seen yet this year. Bloom is something—big and athletic. Well deserving of their #1 status. Orr looked really good. Evanston was just too good for the Spartans. The Wildkits handled Orr’s pressure. Not many others could. Orr will be there for the CPS championships.

I got to see Leo in advance of the Friday’s Chicago Catholic League game against DePaul Prep. And St. Laurence too. I like to see as many Chicago Catholic League teams as I can. I still haven’t seen Fenwick. It will be strange to see St. Joe’s without Gene Pingatore.

Notre Dame amazed me with a huge win over an extremely talented Bogan Begals squad. I still don’t know how they did that. Troy D’Amico played two positions at once. He was bringing the ball over the time line and then passing it to himself under the basket to score.

Okay, I know everybody contributed—Louis Lesmond, Jason Bergstrom, Jimmy Murphy, Frank Lynch and Mac Ross all made it happen without Anthony Sayles.

And the inspired coaching from Kevin Clancy and Shay Boyle. They had the Dons ready and did not fold under the intense pressure from Bogan. It was an interesting move to put D’Amico at point guard after the rash of turnovers. And the murderer’s row schedule too. As a St. Viator grad, I am not one to say nice things about the Notre Dame Dons if I can help it. But I have to take my St. Viator baseball cap off to them. It was very gutsy to put this schedule together and even more impressive to go out and back it up with high quality wins.

I couldn’t speed a lot of time there on Saturday so I missed OPRF and Stevenson. I will get to see Stevenson at the Hinsdale Holiday Classic coming up.

Michael O’Brien wrote in the paper today (or maybe it was Twitter) that the season is one quarter over. It seems like it just started to me. It has been very enjoyable so far.

Well, on to the Christmas tournaments.

Photos from:

Tinley Park v. Schaumburg

Bloom v. St. Laurence

Leo v. Kenwood

Notre Dame v. Bogan

Orr v. Evanston

Whitney Young Hold Off Lincoln Park 56-50

The #5 Whitney Young Dolphins (3-1, 3-0) holds off #10 Lincoln Park (7-1, 3-0) 56-50 in the the painfully loud gym at Lincoln Park on Friday afternoon (December 13, 2019).

DePaul Prep Throttles Providence 59-22

The #19 DePaul Prep Rams (6-1, 3-0) dispatched Providence Catholic 59-22 Friday evening (December 13, 2019). A 22-0 run by the Rams over the second and third quarters did in the Celtics (4-4, 0-3). The Rams defense and poor shooting by the Celtics made for the lopsided score.

The Rams face Leo next Friday at Leo before the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic starts up the week of Christmas.

Notre Dame Grabs Early Advantage in ESCC with 48-36 Victory over Marian Catholic

The #11 Notre Dame Dons (7-1, 1-0) grabbed an early lead in the East Suburban Catholic Conference with an impressive 48-36 victory over #7 Marian Catholic (5-2, 1-1) in Niles on Tuesday evening (December 10, 2019). Both Notre Dame and Marian Catholic are considered top contenders to win the ESCC.

Making it even more impressive was doing it without star point guard junior Anthony Sayles. The Dons bounced back from a frustrating defeat at the hands of #4 Evanston on Friday in the Chicago Elite Classic. The maddeningly difficult schedule for the Don continues Friday when they take on Loyola at Loyola.

Lane Handles New Trier 57-47

The Lane Tech Indians pulled off an impressive victory over the New Trier Trevians 57-47 in their inaugural game at the Chicago Elite Classic.

It was my first game seeing Lane this year. The Elite Classic did not have rosters for the press so I don’t know the players. But it didn’t much matter. The Indians picked up right were they left off victory over a historic programs.

The pictures will have to do for this game. I was concentrating on the photos and not so much on the story.

I hope you like the photos.

Evanston Defeats Notre Dame 62-53 in Chicago Elite Classic

The #9 Evanston Wildkits (5-0) came into Friday night’s game at the 2019 Chicago Elite Classic against the #7 Notre Dame Dons (5-1) ready. The Wildkits have been in big games against good teams before. But this time, they were a little pissed off.

It was not a hot anger. The simmered. It seems like a Mike Ellis kind of anger—quiet, determined, deadly. They never jumped out to a big lead; they just held the Dons at bay throughout the game eventually winning 62-53. The Wildkits scored on their first possession and trailed by one for all of 24 seconds early in the first quarter. After that, it was a methodical take down.

Interestingly, the Wildkits slowed the tempo and showed patience moving the ball around the floor. I guess I was expecting the Kits to run against the bigger Dons. Maybe they wanted to but ND is too good to give up a ton of points in transition. The Wildkits only scored eight fast break points.

Evanston coach Mike Ellis had his team ready. “I thought these guys were so steady,” said Ellis after the game. “Notre Dame never went on a run.”   

But it was not as if the Notre Dame Dons were not ready. The Dons are a very talented team with any obvious weakness. The starting line-up of Louis Lesmond, Anthony Sayles, Troy D’Amico, Jason Bergstrom and Jimmy Murphy and Frank Lynch off the bench leaves little to be desired. The Dons are a clear contender for a state championship in 3A. Notre Dame third year head coach Kevin Clancy has taken the Dons to another level. (Interestingly, the Dons face great competition in the East Suburban Catholic League, but that’s a subject for another day.)

It just seemed that when the Dons would score, Evanston would answer.

There might have been a little more too it.

“That one was the first game I marked on the schedule,” said Evanston junior forward Blake Peters. “We haven’t gotten the press like other teams.”

The much-reported transfer of the French-born Notre Dame junior forward Louis Lesmond from Evanston to Notre Dame over the summer was definitely on the minds of the all concerned. I have to think that this served as part of the motivation for the Wildkits. After the game, Blake Peters downplayed his familiarity with Lesmond and his game, but it seemed quiet evident to me. Despite Lesmond leading the Dons with 15 points, Louis never took over the game like he did against DePaul Prep in the Battle of the Bridge championship game a week earlier.

 “They played harder than us,” said ND’s Anthony Sayles. “We weren’t as conditioned as them.” I am not buying it. Anthony Sayles was a little too hard on himself and his team after the game. I didn’t see signs of a lack of effort or signs of fatigue.

The Evanston shots fell. The Kits were determined and ready. ND played sound defense with tons of effort. Nevertheless, after a good defensive stand by ND, the Wildkits shots fell.

I am really looking forward to seeing more of these teams.

As for the photos, what can I say? The Wintrust Arena has the best light of any high school venue in the City—period. The best.

Frankly, I was not as focused on maximizing the light as much as I was on composing the pictures and telling a good story with the photos. It was pretty standard settings but I was able to drop the ISO pretty low because of the amount and quality of the white light.

I hope you like the photos.

Notre Dame Defeats DePaul Prep 65-60 to 2019 Win Battle of the Bridge

In the first big game of the year for Notre Dame and DePaul Prep, the Dons edged the Rams 65-60 to win the Battle of the Bridge Friday evening. A full house at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym hosted this rematch from of last year’s semi-final.

The first half was mostly even. The Dons got out to small lead in the first quarter but gave up points in transition off missed shots. The Rams drew even at the end of the second quarter. It was tie at 24 at the half.

In the third quarter, Notre Dame’s shooting improved and the Dons opened an eight point lead. The Rams came charging back early in the fourth Quarter, but three consecutive three point shots extended the Don’s lead. The Rams could not make up the difference in the time allotted. Perhaps a playoff rematch in March is in our future.

The Dons are every bit as good as expected. Louis Lesmond shined scoring 22 points including a couple monster dunks. Sayles, D’Amico, Murphy and Bergstrom also played well. The Dons will win many games this year. Benet and Marian Catholic will have their hands full in the ESCC.

Four games into the 2019/2020 basketball season, I am not the least bit disappointed. Tom Kleinschmidt has his Rams prepared to play. They are quick and confident. Junior Tyler Johnson has stepped up as the leader and scorer. Lance Mosley is hitting threes and playing fabulous defense. Brian Matthews is manning the boards and scoring inside. Rasheed Bello is as good as advertised. Cam Lewis contributes in all phases. JD Shower is solid and a great contributor off the bench. The Rams move the ball around the floor almost too fast to follow. It’s going to be fun to watch these kid Rams.

DePaul Prep Handles Vocational 62-46 and Look Ahead

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Chicago Vocational Career Academy 64-46 in the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Rams jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The Rams defense simply stifled the CVS’s scoring attempts and and turned around and scored layups in transition. It was 20 to 6 and at the end of the first quarter and 43 to 18 at the half.  Rams’ Jr. guard Tyler Johnson finished with eighteen points. Center Brian Matthews had 13. Brian is playing with confidence and he is scoring. Lance Mosley had seven points.

Last year I wrote a season preview so I thought I should again. I am a little late with the Rams having already played two games but I thought I might offer some thoughts anyway.

Last year I wrote, “The Rams are also seen by many observers as among the top teams in 3A with Morgan Park, Bogan, St. Viator and St. Rita. So the expectations are high for a deep run into the IHSA 3A playoffs.” The Rams did not disappoint. They won the Grayslake Sectional over a very good St. Viator team. The Super-sectional game never happened because of a fight in the sectional championship between Farragut and North Lawndale. After falling to Bogan in the 3A semi-final, the Rams won the 3A Third Place last March over Peoria Manual.

In the words of Joe Henricksen, “Under Tom Kleinschmidt, DePaul Prep has arrived as a full-fledged, legitimate basketball program in Illinois.” Last year’s success made believers of Joe Henricksen and the Sun-Times reporter Michael O’Brien. The Rams look to take the next step from upstart to perennial powerhouse.

A look ahead at this year’s schedule has some opportunities for the Rams to pile up wins. The Chicago Catholic League poses its usual problems, Fenwick, Loyola, St. Joseph. I don’t know what to expect out of Br. Rice and St. Laurence with their two stars graduated or transferred. I would say the Catholic League Blue is wide open and the Rams have as good a chance as anybody.

The second major tournament is the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. This will be the Rams third year in Hinsdale for Christmas week. Hinsdale has a number of ranked teams including Marian Catholic, Stevenson, Homewood-Flossmoor, Westinghouse and CCL rival St. Rita. The Rams could make a run at this title. It would be difficult and would require some good fortune but they could win.

The Second Annual Steve Pappas Shootout brings Deerfield to the Tom Winicki Gym. Deerfield is good but they are not Morgan Park. Personally, I think it was genius to bring in Morgan Park last year. It got last year’s team into a big game against a potential state tournament favorite. The narrow defeat gave the 2018/2019 Rams the confidence they needed for their deep playoff run.

This year’s St. Patrick Shootout will bring St. Viator. Even without St. Viator’s graduated stars, Hernandez and Calvin, my beloved Lions are more than just dangerous. Lions forward Connor Kochera is drawing rave reviews for his performances over the summer.

Non-conference games include Ridgewood, Peoria Manual, Benet and Mather (for senior night).

The 3A landscape is a little different this year. This is not your father’s 3A. Changing  enrollment classifications have dropped some traditional 4A schools into 3A. Among those schools moving from 4A to 3A are Notre Dame, Deerfield, Benet, Fenwick, Kenwood and Riverside-Brookfield. All these 4A playoff teams in 2018/2019 are in 3A this year. Throw in powerhouse teams like Morgan Park and Bogan and 3A is a whole new world.

So here we go:

1.         Battle of the Bridge

2.         CCL Part 1

3.         Hinsdale Christmas Tournament

4.         CCL Championship

5.         3A Playoffs

How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

DePaul Prep Wins Opener Over Urban Prep--Bronzeville 74-32

The DePaul Prep Rams opened the 2019-2020 season this evening at the Tom Winicki Gym with a 74-32 victory over the Urban Prep—Bronzeville Lions.

The Rams struggled early in the first quarter but quickly started running the floor after Bronzeville turnovers ending in some easy layups for Ty Johnson. Lance Mosley added 4 three-pointers in the second quarter. DePaul Prep had a 41-21 lead at the half.

In the second half, DePaul coach Tom Kleinschmidt went deep into his bench. The Rams widened the lead holding the Lions to eleven points in the second half. The game finished with a 74-32 final score.

As I wrote in a tweet this morning, 111 days until the state championships. I never realized how short the season is. It will go by fast. So the first part of the season is the Lane/DePaul Prep Battle of the Bridge. The Rams will face Vocational, Niles North then probably Notre Dame. I hope to get out to St. Viator to see those Lions take on Evanston.

Riverside-Brookfield Shootout Preview

Time to get back into basketball. The June 21-23, 17th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout field and schedule have been announced. The field is packed with top teams including a Chicago area appearance by two-time 4A state champ Belleville West.

The 64-team tournament includes: Belleville West; 4A runner-up Evanston; 4A third place Curie; 3A state champ East St. Louis; 3A runner-up Bogan; 3A third place DePaul Prep; 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel; 4A sectional champs Stevenson, Bolingbrook and Simeon, 3A Regional champs St. Viator; 2A regional champ Uplift.

A couple of first round games should prove interesting. The DePaul Prep Rams, (CCL Blue champs and 3A third-place), take on Belleville West, 4A state champ the last two-years, late Friday at 8:45 p.m. The Rams recently murderous schedule adds a doozy. The Rams graduated three starters among the best in school history, Perry Cowen, Raheem Anthony and Pavle Pantovic. This game should prove quite a challenge for the Rams even though the Maroons will not have two time player of the year and Ohio State recruit E. J. Liddell. We should get a good preview of the Rams new look with the talented group of sophomores as well as juniors D.J. Shower and Brian Mathews.

Another interesting first round game is ESCC 2019 champ Marian Catholic against rival St. Viator, Saturday at 12:35 p.m. Pool M is curiously packed with Marian Catholic, St. Viator, defending 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel as well as Northern IL-Big 12 East conference champ DeKalb.

The Chicago Catholic League is well represented with 10 of its 16 teams in attendance. Conspicuous in its absence is CCL White Division champs St. Rita. Perhaps this has something to do with the recent dismissal of this coach Gary DeCesare.

The Chicago Public League also has top teams in attendance (in no particular order): Curie, Bogan, Simeon, Whitney Young, Uplift and Lincoln Park.

Frequent viewers of this channel know that I tend to concentrate on Chicago Catholic League and CPS games. I am looking to branch out some this year and take in more suburban games. I definitely have to see Max Christie at Rolling Meadows. The Mustangs take on Curie on Friday at 6:55 in R-B’s main gym.

I am also looking forward to seeing Notre Dame’s talented young team with juniors Anthony Sayles and Troy D’Amico. Marian Catholic better watch out for Notre Dame this season. The Dons are going to be good.

The thing about these preseason games is that they are not really like an in-season matchup. The games are quick, the lineups are fluid and don’t reflect the probable in-season starting line-up. There isn’t a whole lot of defense played. I wish I was a more seasoned analyst to tell one exactly what to look for. But I am neither a sportswriter nor a basketball expert. I am photographer and a fan.

As for the photography of this event, it doesn’t lend itself to great picture taking opportunities. Many of the games are in a field house and small gyms without the best light. I am also not as prepared as usual on which players to watch. I am not there to take photos as much as gain intelligence on the best teams to photograph in the upcoming season.

Nevertheless, I am jazzed about the start of the pre-season, at least for me. Hope to see you there—June 21-23 at Riverside-Brookfield High School. I see what I can do about getting some stories and photos up in IL Preps Insider as well.

IHSA Boys Playoff Weekend Recap

We are a week separated from the IHSA 3A and 4A Boys Playoffs now and I am now getting around to the recap. I spent last Friday and Saturday in Peoria photographing as many games as I could.

I found out one cannot photograph and process all the games in real time. Two games per day is about all I can do and get galleries and stories up on a timely fashion.

As for the games themselves, they did not disappoint. Well, except for the first game, where m y DePaul Prep lost to Bogan. The Rams had good shots early but they would not fall. Credit to Bogan. They put on a stellar defense effort basically shutting down everyone on DePaul except Perry Cowen. After that East St. Louis impressed against a tough and scrappy Peoria Manual team in a very entertaining battle.

4A was especially fun. I have seen Evanston five times this year and a couple times last year. Very good and entertaining team. Extremely well coached. Sr. guard Jaheim Holden has to be one of the most exciting players I have seen in the past few years. The Wildkits handles Rochford East who I had not seen. Evanston posses so many matchup problems. Rockford constantly lost track of sophomore Blake Peters and he made them pay. Peters was 7 for 8 from beyond the arc—just deadly.

Then the biggest game of the season so far, Curie v. Beilleville West. E.J. Liddell is better than advertised. Gonna be star at the next level. He has it all. Curie lost composure at the end. The Condors just ran out magic and one by one their best players fouled out.

DePaul Prep refocused and came out wanting to end the season with a win in the 3A Third Place game on Saturday morning. They did just that, soundly defeating a Peoria Manuel team that did not want to be there.

Frankly, I was busy working on photos of the DePaul v. Manuel game and I didn’t see much of the 4A Third Place game. As I recall, Curie won but what I remember is that they didn’t want to be there eight.

Then the premier Evanston v. Belleville West 4A Championship on Saturday night. What a game! It was tough for the Maroons to matchup against Evanston early. The Wildkits came out running and opened a seven point half time lead. As good as the Wildkits looked, Belleville West was playing Evanston’s game and stayed right with the Kits. One just got the feeling at the half that the Maroons would overcome.

That they did. No three pointers for Blake Peters. E.J. Liddell got the ball inside and either scored or dished it off for an easy backdoor bucket. The Maroons overcame and pulled away. It was quite a show.

And then, all the sudden, it was over. Time to go back to Chicago. It just left me wanting more.

Thanks to all for another wonderful high school basketball season. The R-B summer tournament will be here soon. Then the Thanksgiving tournaments. See you then.

As for the photos, these are a few good ones I got over both days. I hope you like them.

DePaul Wins IHSA Third Place 64-44 over Manuel

The DePaul Prep Rams did what so few get to do—win their last game of the season. Okay, it wasn’t exactly the best way to do it but the Rams got to get a little of the bad taste our of their mouths that they would carry around until November. The DePaul Prep Rams, 26-10, wanted to win and played like it. The same cannot be said about their opponent, Peoria Manuel.

In yesterday’s semi-final Manuel gave eventual 3A champion East St. Louis all they could handle losing a fast-paced physical game, 57-48. Manuel seemed in no mood to play and it showed.

DePaul sophomore guard Tyler Johnson lead all scorers with 15 including two three-pointers. Senior guard Perry Cowen finished with 13 points in his final high school game before going on to play at Brown University next fall. Senior guard Raheem Anthony had 10 points.

The DePaul Prep Rams finished the school’s most successful season in 19 years, The Rams won the Catholic League Blue Division and finished third in the state in 3A.

The future is bright for the Rams. Ty Johnson, Lance Mosley and a host of Catholic League champion sophomores return.