DePaul Prep Going to State Again with 68-28 Win Over Kaneland

By Jack Lydon

“I feel like we came out and we just punched them in the mouth. We weren't trying to let them get going. We knew that they could get hot pretty fast. We wanted to limit their shots . . . We never gave them a chance to get going,” said DePaul Prep senior guard Rob Walls after the game.

Punched them in the mouth is a good way to describe how the DePaul Prep Rams dismantled the Kaneland Knights 68-28 in the 3A Super-sectional game at Hoffman Estates NOW Arena Monday evening.

It was by no means clear before the game started, how Kaneland would contend with competition such as DePaul Prep. Kaneland came into the game was a gaudy 32-1 record running through their competition with impressive wins over DeKalb and Crystal Lake South. But the Knights haven’t played anything like the level of competition that DePaul Prep would bring.

It showed in the first quarter. The Rams opened the game with 12-0 run. Senior forward Gus Donohue added two big three pointers in a row midway throw the first quarter opening an 18-2 advantage. It was 21-3 at the end of the quarter.

“I thought it was good to get the offense going. . . The guards got me the ball, [Kaneland] to help on our good guards and then I had wide open shots. I was happy that I could knock them down,” Donohue said.

The rest of the game was not much different. 43-12 at the half 60-22 after the third. Running clock and subs for both teams in the fourth with a 68-28 final.

DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt was complementary of Kaneland.

“Three and five are excellent players. Five [Kaneland senior forward Freddy Hassan] is a thousand-point scorer,” said Kleinschmidt.

“Three [Kaneland’s junior point guard Marshawn Cocroft] is an unbelievable guard, all state last year in 2A. We wanted to make sure they saw a man and a half. I know we're a good defensive of team, but if you play those two guys, one on one, they give people problems. They're thirty-two and one.”

Kaneland is good. They have good players and are well coached. A team can’t go 32-1 without that. It just seemed the Rams were just that much better. Dialed in. Ready and anxious to get back downstate.

Kleinschmidt was a little more forthcoming about the season than he usually is.

“There's a reason we play the schedule we play. We played eight rank teams in like twelve days. We got beat by [Brother] Rice at home by one. The next day within thirteen hours, H-F beat us by one. The kids were really down after that H-F game. I told them when we get down state this weekend, it's gonna be that weekend that got us down state.

“We had Benet at home. I thought it was important to start seniors like Gus and Jonus who helped us build the program. [Benet] took it to us. We gave them another day off and then they have been laser focused at practice and I think that's why. We are rested, we're tested and we’re prepped.

The DePaul Prep Rams have put together such a string of successful seasons that it hardly seems real. They have advanced to the state finals five of the last six years which had state finals, including this year. They won 3A last year and 2A the year before that. In 2022, they finished in third place in 2A. And in 2019, the finished in third place in 3A. Oh, and in the COVID year 2021, they won the non-IHSA Chipotle Tournament ending the season ranked No. 1.

The Rams will face Glenwood High School (24-9, 6-4) from Chatham, Illinois (population 14,525), in Thursday evening’s IHSA 3A semi-final at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center. The Glenwood Titans finished fourth in the Central State Eight conference behind MacArthur, Springfield and Lanphier.

DePaul Prep Moves Up to #4 and Readies for Super Against Kaneland

The DePaul Prep Rams moved up in the Sun-Times Super 25 today from #6 last week to #4 this week behind #1 Kenwood, #2 Benet and #3 Rich Township. The Rams look to reprise their Super-sectional victory of last year over Crystal Lake South on Monday evening when they face #22 Kaneland High School Knights (32-1, 10-0) at 6:00 p.m., at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

On Friday at 3:30 p.m., immediately before the sectional final games were to start, the IHSA issued a statement announcing that Kaneland had been ruled ineligible to participate in the playoffs going forward because it allowed an ineligible player to play in seven games. The player was not identified. However, after an appeal to the IHSA Board, the penalty was commuted to just making the player ineligible and allowing Kaneland to continue participating in the playoffs.

With their gaudy 32-1 record, the Knights then defeated Crystal Lake South 49-37 earning a spot in Monday’s super-sectional against DePaul Prep.

I confess, I never heard of Kaneland High School until this year. Located in Maple Park, Illinois, population 1,478, Maple Park is along the western board of Kane County about halfway between Elburn and DeKalb. I am told that kids from Elburn, where the Metra West line commuter train ends, attend Kaneland.

Kaneland is easternmost school in the Interstate 8 Conference with such schools as Sycamore, LaSalle-Peru, Rochelle, Morris and Ottawa.

The Kaneland sectional championship win over Crystal Lake South is probably its biggest win of the season. Kaneland’s only loss this season came to McHenry in the second game of the season resulting in a 31-game win streak. Kaneland has not played any ranked teams.

Kaneland also boasts some ranked players. Junior 6’0” point guard Marshall Cocroft has garnered some attention. Prep Hoops has him ranked at the 67th best play in the class of 2026. The Knights’ 6’8” sophomore center Jeffrey Hassan is the seventh ranked player in Prep Hoops’ class of 2027. Jeffrey’s brother senior Freddy Hassan lead the Knights on Friday evening against Crystal Lake South with 21 points and 20 rebounds.

DePaul Prep Rams after their 2024 Super-sectional win over Crystal Lake South at the NOW Arena.

DePaul Prep Wins Antioch Sectional 45-25 Over Deerfield

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

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep is rolling. Another dominant playoff win for the Rams. This time a 45-25 win over Deerfield in the 3A Antioch Sectional Final Friday. The DePaul Prep Rams’ success (30-4) is going way past impressive and moving into historic. This is DePaul Prep’s fifth Sectional championship in the last six seasons with playoffs. The four previous sectional wins ended with two third place finishes and two championships.

The Deerfield Warriors came into the game 24-7 fresh off an upset victory over Lake Forest, the number 2 seed in the sectional. They finished second behind 4A Sectional champ Evanston in the Central Suburban South Conference. They have height and shooters.

But the Rams are rolling. In the first couple possessions, it was evident that the ultra-quick ball movement of the Rams to their shooters in the corners was not going to be as open usual. Deerfield was too quick in getting into the faces of the Rams’ shooters.

Okay. Plan B—go  inside to Rashaun Porter.

The Warriors had no answer for that. Rams’ junior center Rashaun Porter opened the game with three dunks and eight of the Rams’ fourteen first quarter points. The Rams completely controlled the first quarter only giving up four points. Deerfield’s outside shots were not falling and the Rams quickly shutdown attempts to drive the lane.

The second quarter was not quite so dominant. Deerfield reeled off a 10-0 run late in the second quarter to make it a five-point game at the half.

 “We got beat on the glass. They had some desperation going. We relaxed. They beat us to the balls. They were more physical than us and they made some shots,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

There was no panic. It was like, “okay, let’s just get back to work.”

Work they did. The Rams gave up only seven points in the second half, only two in the third quarter. This was against a Deerfield team that won twenty-four games this year. The Rams were just that dominant.

Kleinschmidt does not take the remarkable success of his teams for granted. “We’re not the Yankees or anything like that. We’re a good program. But people are just coming and expecting regionals and sectionals. We as a coaching staff just sometimes lose our minds because we know how hard it is to win. We don't take this for granted because we were on the other end of this ten years ago.”

Neither do the players. Rams center Porter, who in his first two high school basketball campaigns has won two state championships, was remarkably circumspect, “I'll just take it one step at a time. I just take all the information that soaked in, like being on the bench, to getting in a little bit of minutes, to having a big roll . . . now in big situations we can come together as a team.”

The Rams advance to play in Monday evening’s super-sectional (final eight teams) against Kaneland High School of Maple Park at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. Kaneland defeated Crystal Lake South 49-37 in the 3A Rochelle Sectional.   

Kaneland dodges a bullet with the IHSA immediately prior to Friday evening’s game. The IHSA released a statement late Friday afternoon that Kaneland had “allowed an ineligible student-athlete to participate in its last seven boys basketball contests of the season, including a Class 3A Sectional Semifinal win on March 5.”

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson initially ruled that the school would forfeit those seven contests and would not be allowed to participate in its IHSA Class 3A Sectional Championship game. However, Kaneland appealed, and the IHSA Board of Directors reduced the penalty, allowing Kaneland to continue on in the state playoffs, but without the ineligible player.

DePaul Prep junior guard Rykan Woo was named to the Chicago Sun-Times “All Area” team Friday which recognizes the top players in the Chicago metropolitan area.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Viator in Antioch 3A Sectional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams (29-4) defeated the St. Viator Lions (24-10) 63-23 in the 3A Antioch Sectional semi-final Tuesday evening.

DePaul’s defense ruled the day. St. Viator was basically limited to perimeter shots in the first half scoring just ten points in the first half. The Rams held St. Viator’s best player, Henry Marshall, an MIT commit, to ten points of the Lions 23 total points.

The Rams move on to play #3 seed Deerfield (24-7) on Friday evening at 6:00 in Antioch. In a mild upset, Deerfield defeated #1 seed Lake Forest 33-31 in the sectional semi last night. Interestingly, St. Viator took Deerfield to overtime but lost to Deerfield 36-32 the day after Christmas. That was a long time ago so I am not sure it means much. Deerfield has no wins over ranked teams.

Kenwood Comes Back to Edge Simeon 58-56

After the DePaul Prep Rams took care of our St. Viator Lions 63-23 in the Antioch (my photos to follow), I jetted down to Hinsdale Central to catch the end of Kenwood v. Simeon.

I got there with about four minutes to go. Simeon lead by a point after having lost a seventeen point lead in the third quarter.

I was there mostly to see what happened rather than actually cover the game. I found a spot on the floor next to Sun-Times photographer Kirsten Stickney. She was working so I took a spot out of her way. She is a master at the reaction shot. I am not good at it despite working on it. I was kind of watching her work so I could learn from her. She never puts the camera down. She is always hunting for a shot. She was only using one camera with a 70-200mm lens.

I managed to get the obvious reaction shot of Kenwood’s Devin Cleveland after he dropped the game winning floater with 37.1 seconds left. Kirsten also got the shot but she also the shot of Devin taking the shot—the shot that is in the paper. The shot I got of that was obscured by a Simeon defender.

As for the game, I guess I just knew Kenwood would win. Jack Gleason said the same thing after the game. Kenwood just always wins close games at the end. Devin Cleveland, Amari Edwards and tj Seals are just money players. They know how to win.

These are shots from the final couple minutes and the overtime.

DePaul Prep and Lane Are Both Regional Champs

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

It was a good night for basketball teams from Addison and Western. The seventh ranked DePaul Prep Rams (28-4) defeated the Carmel Corsairs (12-19) to win their tenth consecutive regional championship. Their immediate neighbor to the north, the Lane Tech Champions (20-11) defeated the New Trier Trevians 67-57 to win Lane’s first ever regional championship in school history.

With the number one seed in the 3A Antioch Sectional, DePaul Prep faced the number nine seed, Carmel Catholic from Mundelein. The Rams controlled the game from the outset. Their patented switching defense stymied Carmel at every turn. The Corsairs struggled to even get shots up. They only scored one point in the second quarter, and that was a free through in the closing seconds of the half.

Rams’s junior guard Rykan Woo, recently selected as second-team All-City by the Sun-Times, had nineteen points included all thirteen of the Rams’ first quarter points. Senior forward and DePaul University commit Jonas Johnson started the game and added eleven points. Point guard and Western Illinois commit Makai Kvamme had ten points.

“It’s great. I certainly don’t take it for granted,” Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his teams’ having won ten straight IHSA Regional Championships.

“It the cultivation of a program, the support that we get from the school, the coaches and players that we have had, names that [our current players] may not know or may have only heard of that really build the program, guys like Chris Herrell and Raequan [Williams], David Holiday, Scotty Calderon, [Dan Lydon], all those guys that build the program,” Kleinschmidt added.

“[Those guys] took the program and gave it to Perry [Cowen], Perry gave it to these guys. It’s been awesome. I don’t take it for granted. Ten straight regionals. I remember the first three that we played in we didn’t win one. I was hoping to win one or two regionals.”

DePaul Prep senior Makai Kvamme, widely regarding as a top point guard in the area, reflected on his last home game in DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. “I have played here for so long, developed such a great relationship with my teammates. It means the world to me being here with my teammates and coaches.”

As good of a night as it was for the Rams, it was that and more for the Lane Tech Champions. The number four seed Champions defeated the previously ranked and five seed New Trier Trevians in the Maine South regional final 67-57. This was Lane’s first regional championship in school history. The Champions join the ranks of venerable southside 2025 CPS regional champions such as Kenwood, Simeon, Whitney Young and Curie.

The Champions reprised their January 18th 60-47 victory over New Trier but it wasn’t without having to deal with adjustments by the Trevians.

“They really tried to negate [first team All-City senior center] Dalton [Scantlebury],” said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo.

“They were in a box and one [defense] the entire game. We did a good job in setting our other guys up, using Dalton’s strengths in other ways. Guys stepped up.”

New Trier junior forward Christopher Kirkpatrick led the Trevians attack with his deadly long range jumpers. Kirkpatrick managed 29 points but it would not be enough to overcome a 17-4 first quarter deficit.

“We got hot from three early. We made some big ones late. We got to a point where they were just daring us to shoot it. Drew Barolai hit a big one from the corner. That kind of broke the game open in the third quarter. We took a pretty good lead. We maintained that through the fourth. And that was it,” LoGablo said.

“I am super proud of our guys. We have been talking about trying to do this for a long time. I thought we had the team to do it. We set the schedule at the beginning of the year. We decided that we are going to go play everbody. We found a way to get ourselves here. Our guys were ready for the moment.”

DePaul Prep advances to face a somewhat overlooked St. Viator Lions team in the 3A Antioch Sectional semi-final on Tuesday. The Lions have put together an impressive 23-9 record year.

The Lane Tech Champions will face #12 Evanston (26-5)  in the 4A New Trier Sectional semi on Tuesday.

Other area teams also played in the regional championships. In 4A, #20 Whitney Young knocked off the other ranked area team #13 Lincoln Park 50-47.

Antioch Sequoits Fall to Notre Dame 55-46

The Antioch Sequoits (17-12, 11-1) lost to Notre Dame (16-15, 2-6) on Wednesday night at Notre Dame in the 3A Regional semi-final.

I thought maybe this might a 12-5 upset situation. The Dons jumped out to an early lead. In the third quarter, Sequoits coach Sean Connor dialed up the pressure with put on a 1-3-1 defense. It worked. Antioch battled back and had it to a four point game.

The 12-5 upset wasn’t going to happen. The Dons made their free throws and forced outside shots in the closing minute that did not fall.

Notre Dame advances to play Deerfield tonight for the Regional championship.

I got to see me first cousin twice removed, Logan Lennon, play for the Sequoits. Logan is the great great grandson of my grandfather and namesake, John J. Lydon, who came to the United States from Ireland in 1912. Logan is a freshman on the Antioch varsity and paid quite a bit in the game. I understand he is a gift football player. We’ll have to coach him up, getting in the gym shooting jumpers so we can be part of Sean Connor’s championship future in Antioch.

Lane Tech Handles Maine East 69-42 in 4A Regional Semi-final

I took a ride out to Maine South yesterday evening to see the Lane Tech Champions take on the Maine East Blue Demons. I fully expected the Champions to handle Maine East. I was just stopping in to check out Lane before I went over to Notre Dame to see them play Sean Connor’s Antioch Sequoits which I thought might be a 12-5 upset.

It was my first time being in the Maine South gym. It’s a nice enough gym but the light was poor. The color of the light was okay, just not enough light.

I arrived and the game had started already. Maine East had a lead at the end of the first quarter on the strength of some three point shooting. The Champions quickly put an end to that in the second quarter and used their overwhelming size to basically score at will in the paint in the second quarter. The Champions had a ten point lead at the half and never looked back winning 69-42.

Lane advances to Friday’s Regional final against New Trier at 6:00 p.m. The Trevians are favored to advance out of their own 4A sectional so the Champions will have their hands full. New Trier has been down state several times in recent years. They have some deadly outside shooters including Christopher Kirkpatrick and Daniel Houlihan.

Lane’s length will help with defending these shooters but I saw New Trier play #1 Kenwood and Kenwood struggled to defend the whole court against multiple shooters.

This regional final might the best one in the area. It would be a nice win for Lane. This is why they struggled through a killer schedule this year—to get ready for this game against a good team.

DePaul Prep Defeats Glenbard South in Sectional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Glenbard South Raiders 54-49 Tuesday evening at DePaul’s Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym to win the 3A DePaul Prep Sectional semi-final game.

The Rams survived a 10-0 run by the Raiders at the start of the fourth quarter. The Raiders tied the game at 44 with 4:56 left. Free throws and defense in the closing minutes carried the Rams to victory.

It was an impressive win for DePaul Prep and their first year coach Corey Morgan. Glenbard South came into the game with a record of 26-3 overall and 12-1 in their conference earning them the #1 seed in the Sectional. Max Preps had the Raiders ranked #3 in 3A. Glenbard South had beaten the Rams 48-38 in the first game this season. The Rams turned the tables on the Raiders at the end of the season.

The Rams advance to play Montini on Thursday in the Sectional final.

DePaul Prep Falls to Benet 64-51 in Regular Season Finale

The DePaul Prep Rams closed the regular season Friday evening against Benet Academy at home in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams dropped the game 64-51 against the hot shooting Red Wings.

The Rams finish the 24-25 regular season as champions of the Chicago Catholic League with record of 26-4. The Rams had two bigs wins against out-of-town powerhouses, Mater Dei and Vashon and eight wins against ranked teams. Their losses coming only to ranked teams, Kenwood, Brother Rice, Homewood-Flossmoor and Benet.

The Rams open the IHSA 3A playoffs on Wednesday against the winner of Monday’s Lake View vs. North Chicago game.

It’s been an amazing season. I shot thirty games but it didn’t seem like that many. It went fast. On to the playoffs we go. Only twenty-one days until the state championship games.

IHSA Playoff Look Ahead

The IHSA boys basketball playoff brackets come out on Friday at 4:00 p.m. I have been looking at various brackets and prognosticating some scenarios for area schools.

3A

There are eight sectionals in 3A: Brother Rice, Washington, Little Village, Glenbard South, Antioch, Rochelle, Decatur and Marion. The Brother Rice Sectional has all southside or south suburban schools. Washington has Central Illinois teams. Little Village has Chicago and west suburban schools. Glenbard South also has Chicago and suburban schools. Antioch has Chicago and North suburban schools. Rochelle has northern Illinois and west suburban schools. Decatur and Marion have southern Illinois schools. The first four sectionals lead to one finalist (championship game participant) and the other four to the other finalist.

All the northside of Chicago 3A schools are in the Antioch Sectional: DePaul Prep, Lake View, Payton, Amundsen, Roosevelt, Northside and CICS/Northtown.

DePaul Prep

With respect to DePaul Prep, let’s look at the best teams in 3A. The top 3A teams in Illinois, in particular order, are Brother Rice, DePaul Prep, Morton, Kankakee, St. Lawrence, Centralia, Metamora, Kaneland, Mount Carmel, Kaneland, Fenwick and I added in St. Patrick for fun. It’s very possible that three of these four Chicago Catholic League teams, Brother Rice, St. Laurence, Mount Carmel, Fenwick and DePaul Prep could be 3A finalists in Champaign for the State Finals.

It is very possible to have three Chicago Catholic League as 3A finalists. DePaul Prep has beaten all of the top 3A teams it has played in the regular season except Brother Rice. Brother Rice could advance to one State Final spot (final four) while Fenwick, St. Patrick, St. Laurence or Mount Carmel could land a second the State Semi-final spot. DePaul Prep could be the third CCL State finalist.

Lake View

The Lake View Wildcats (13-11, 9-0) are in the DePaul Prep regional and would have to get through the Rams to advance into the Antioch Sectional.

Amundsen

The Amundsen Vikings (13-6, 8-1) open the playoffs on 2/24 at home against Northside. The winner of that game takes on #2 seed and #21 ranked Lake Forest in the Vernon Hills Regional on 2/26.

Payton

The Payton Grizzles (14-12, 7-4) host a regional and open on 2/25 against Noble/Muchin. The Grizzles could face either Elmwood Park or Noble Street Charter in the regional championship before advancing into the Little Village Sectional. The Little Village Sectional may well have Fenwick or St. Patrick standing in the Grizzlies’ way.

4A

4A is a tougher nut to crack. As one might imagine, the best teams are from the bigger schools. There are only seven 3A schools in the Sun-Times Super 25, those being four being the top Chicago Catholic League teams, DePaul Prep, #11 St. Laurence, #12 Mount Carmel and #13 Brother Rice. The others being #17 Kankakee, #21 Lake Forest and #25 Kaneland.

Lane Tech

The sectionals of note in 4A for our purposes are New Trier and Hinsdale Central. Lane Tech landed the #4 seed in the New Trier Sectional. Also in the New Trier sectional are #9 ranked Evanston with the #1 seed, Loyola Academy with the #2 seed and Niles North with the #3 seed.

The Lane Tech Champions (17-11) open against Maine East in the Maine South Regional and could face either #5 seed New Trier or Maine South in the regional final. A sectional championship would require also getting through either Loyola Academy or Niles North. Lance defeated Nile North in the Thanksgiving tournament. This is a doable path for the Champions to a sectional championship. But it is doable for the others as well, particularly the New Trier Trevians who have a history of doing it.

A New Trier Sectional championship would put the Champions into a Super against the St. Charles East Sectional Championship. As 4A sectionals go, St. Charles East is not the toughest. The only ranked team is #19 Glenbard West (22-5). The #2 seed is Geneva (24-4). I have seen Geneva. They are good but the Champions can easily play right with them. So it is entirely possible that the Champions could be sectional champs. I dare not speculate further than this. 

Lincoln Park

#14 ranked Lincoln Park (22-5) draws the Hinsdale Central Sectional—the toughest sectional in all the IHSA playoffs. in addition to the Lions, Hinsdale Central has #1 Kenwood, #4 Hinsdale Central, #16 Simeon, #20 Whitney Young and previously ranked St. Ignatius.

The Lions open the playoffs against Morton (the Cicero Morton, not the Morton Morton) at Whitney Young on 2/26. After that would probably be Whitney Young at Whitney Young the following Friday. Lincoln Park defeated Whitney Young 74-71 at Whitney Young in December. Then possibly Curie again the sectional semi-final. And then, possibly Kenwood, Simeon or St. Ignatius. Tough indeed.

Lane Tech’s Zach Mazanowski ducks against Phillips in November.

DePaul Prep Dismantles Fenwick 52-22, Wins Chicago Catholic League

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

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams (26-3, 7-1) dismantled Fenwick 52-22 to win the Chicago Catholic League at DePaul Friday night. Absolute shutdown defense held the Friars to thirteen points into the fourth quarter. This is an exceptional Friars squad with that only had three losses in the Catholic League coming into the game. A Fenwick victory in this game was entirely impossible.

The Rams came into the game with a 6-1 record in the Chicago Catholic Leagues Blue Division tied with Brother Rice. A win for the Rams assured them of at least a share of the conference title. Shortly after the game ended word spread that Mount Carmel defeated Brother Rice making DePaul Prep outright CCL champs for the second year in a row.

The Rams hit a little rough patch at the end of January suffering back-to-back losses first to Brother Rice and then to Homewood-Flossmoor at the end of January—if you can call it a rough patch to lose consecutive games to the No. 8 team and the No. 3 team respectively when you have a 26-3 record. Let’s call it a little bump.

The Rams opened the game strong. Senior guard Rob Walls dropped a short jumper from the lane on DePaul’s opening possession. It was a good omen given the Rams first quarter struggles in the home loss to Brother Rice two weeks earlier. Then the defensive show started. Fenwick struggled to even shoot the ball. Drives into the lane quickly lead to passes out to the wing. The outlet passes lead to off-balance missed shots and DePaul Prep rebounds. Few if any offensive rebound for the Friars.

The Rams built their typical 15-6 first quarter lead spreading the ball around with buckets from all five starters and two each from junior guard Rykan Woo and senior point guard Makai Kvamme.

In the second quarter, the Rams held Fenwick to three points. They made just one basket, a three-pointer from senior Kamren Hogan. The Friars’ frustration was palpable with a halftime score of 29-9 DePaul.

“They couldn’t get by us. We made them take jump shots. We got every rebound. We can play,” DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his Rams’ defensive effort.

“I think our switching bothers teams. Our guards really kept the ball in front of us. We were disciplined tonight. We made them take jump shots.”

Rams junior center Rashaun Porter put on a masterful defensive performance that stood out among masterful defensive performance. Porter was matched up against Fenwick standout forward Nathaniel Marshall. Marshall is one of the best football players in the state who has gained attention for his basketball skills in recent months.

“Shaun’s a big body. He’s long and he is strong. He didn’t bite on head fakes or pump fakes. He kept [Marshall] in front of him. He did a nice job,” Kleinschmidt said of Porter.

It didn’t get much better for Fenwick in the second half. The Friars managed only another four points in the third quarter falling behind 41-13. Even so, there was no quit in Fenwick, their own defensive effort made the Rams work for their points. Rykan Woo finished with sixteen points in a little more than three quarters. AJ Chambers had twelve. Makai Kvamme had eight. Rashaun Porter had seven.

The regular season is drawing to a close with one regular season game left, a home matchup against East Suburban Catholic Conference champion Benet Academy next Friday at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym.

DePaul Prep landed the #1 seed in the IHSA 3A Antioch Sectional. The Rams will host the winner of Lake View v. North Chicago on February 26th to open the playoffs. The Rams look to “threepeat” as state champions. Two years ago the Rams won the 2A state championship and won the 3A state championship last year with win over Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel in the championship game.

St. Ignatius Defeats Fenwick 55-54 in OT

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack defeated Fenwick 55-54 in overtime on Tuesday (Feb. 11, 2025). As the season draws to a close, the Wolfpack improves their record to 23-5 and 3-3 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue conference. Fenwick falls to 19-10 and 4-3 in the CCL Blue.

Full Gallery of Photos from DePaul Prep v. St. Ignatius

These are my photos from Friday night’s DePaul Prep Rams 60-58 overtime win over St. Ignatius. I took an unusually large number of photos and published more that I usually do. It was a big game so I gave it a little special treatment.

DePaul Prep Beats St. Ignatius 60-58 in OT

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

[Full photo gallery to follow.]

By Jack Lydon

I got there over an hour early and the parking lot was already totally full. Friday’s DePaul Prep v. St. Ignatius game at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym would be different. Well not so much different as amplified. Bigger, stronger, faster.

And so it was. The DePaul Prep Rams (24-3, 5-1) defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 60-58 in overtime to advance toward another Chicago Catholic League title and prove they can come from behind and win when it matters.

This was a high-level high school basketball game played by very talented players and coaches on both sides. Few turnovers, multiple dunks and three-pointers, defense and offence. The largest lead of the game by either team was a six-points.

The Tom Kleinschmidt formula win goes like this: an early lead, a dominant third quarter that builds a 15 to 20 point lead and then kill the clock in the fourth. That wasn’t happening in this game. St. Ignatius’ coach Matt Monroe knows that scenario. The Wolfpack didn’t get far behind and flipped the script by outscoring the Rams and taking a lead in the third quarter.

“They're obviously one of the best defensive programs around. They're switching defense causes teams fits. So we were hoping to put them in more scramble situations. We are hoping to do a few of our attacking switch techniques, like slipping with a couple of things we call twist and turn,” said St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.

Monroe’s plan worked. It didn’t look good for the Rams at the 5:48 mark in the fourth when Phoenix Gill, St. Ignatius’ senior point guard, Northwestern commit and son of a former NBA player, Kendall Gill, drained a three to give the Wolfpack a 48-42 lead.

After a time out, the Rams chipped away and chipped away. A couple buckets from Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers but the relentless defense lead by Rob Walls and Makai Kvamme led to turnovers which turned into clutch layups by Kvamme to tie the game.

St. Ignatius had a chance to win at the end of regulation. After a time out and with a few seconds left on the clock, Phoenix Gill took the inbounds pass. With DePaul Prep’s Rob Walls guarding him at the top of the key, Gill worked the ball to the right but had dish the ball off to junior guard Napolean Harris IV, who put up a three-pointer that missed.

Overtime. DePaul’s junior center Rashaun Porter dropped a bucket. Junior guard Rykan Woo added a free throw. St. Ignatius senior guard Ryan Cavanagh drained a three to tie the game with 46.9 left in OT.

The Rams had the ball with time winding down. Porter drove to the hoop and was fouled. He drained two free throws with three seconds left to give the Rams a 60-58 lead and the victory.  

“We’ve got grit. We showed some toughness. [If something bad happens, it’s] on to the next play. A lot of teams or individuals would have hung their heads and quit. We didn’t. We believe in each other. We came out and made some plays,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt of his Rams.

Porter was jubilant after the game, “This is the Catholic league, and this is a really tough league, one of the best leagues in the Midwest. And we want to win it. . . . Our goal is to win the Catholic League. . . . So we really wanted this one.”

Kleinschmidt mentioned rivalry after the game, “It's a rivalry. It’s only a rivalry if both teams win. We won a couple in a row now, but for a while there, they won a couple in a row.” Kleinschmidt is 8-5 against St. Ignatius in his last eleven seasons as DePaul Prep and Gordon Tech head coach, including a particularly heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in a sectional final game in 2020, two days before the whole world shut down with the COVID pandemic.

Conference play is not quite over. DePaul Prep is tied with Brother Rice each having one loss. The Rams have two conference games left: DeLaSalle and Fenwick. Brother Rice has Mount Carmel left. The Rams control their own fate. If both DePaul Prep and Fenwick win out, they share the CCL title. If the Rams win and the Crusaders lose, the Rams win it out right—Chicago Catholic League champions for the second year in a row.

DePaul Prep’s senior point guard Makai Kvamme after a dunk in the first quarter against St. Ignatius

Lane Tech Handled Ag Science 63-45 Thursday and Will Face Kenwood on Saturday

I didn’t know what to expect on my first trip out to the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences or CHSAS or, as I call it, Ag Science. It’s located on the far southwestern border of Chicago at 111th and Pulaski. I had never seen Ag Science play nor had I ever been out to their gym. I had heard of Ag Science though because of its curious focus in the nation’s third largest city.

I have seen the Lane Tech Champions (17-10, 7-4) quite a few times this season so I know how good they are even if their record doesn’t show it. They put together a brutally tough schedule directly for the purpose of preparing for the City tournament and the IHSA playoffs.

Interestingly, the Cyclones drew the #8 seed in the Red Division tournament because of their fourth place finish in the Red-Star division. While Lane drew the #9 seed because of their #5 seed in the higher Red-Shield division.

The Champion’s length pretty much overwhelmed the Cyclones from the start ultimately winning 63-45. Lane jumped out to an early lead and shut down Ag Science from scoring inside. Their outside shot were all opposed and were not falling either. The Champions scored at will in the paint. I don’t know know that I have seen so many dunks in a high school game. Of Dalton Scantlebury’s fifteen points a majority had to be scored on dunks.

The Champions move on to face #1 ranked Kenwood on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., at Curie High School. The CPL has gone to a neutral site format for the quarter and semi-finals. The Champions look to rebound from an early season 82-75 loss to Kenwood at Lane in December. Lane looks to put together a revenge tour through the tournament with wins against previous victors or some combination thereof, Kenwood, Whitney Young, Simeon and Lincoln Park.

DePaul Prep Handles Leo 59-27

The DePaul Prep Rams (22-3, 4-1) traveled to Leo (14-9, 1-4) on Friday evening and defeated the Lions 59-27.

Kenwood Defeats Lincoln Park 70-61 to Win Red-Shield

[A preview of my article this week in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lincoln Park battled Kenwood Thursday for the top of the CPL’s Red—Shield division. Kenwood is just too good. The Lions (21-4, 9-2) battled the Broncos (32-1, 11-0) but in the end Kenwood defeated the Lions 70-61 by breaking Lincoln Park’s press, scoring in transition and making free throws. The Lions just could out score Kenwood in the closing minutes.

“They are the number one team in the state for a reason. They are battle tested. That’s a good team,” Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson said of Kenwood. This really was one of those games where both teams played well enough to win and one team was just a little bit better and won at the end.

It was a two-point game at the half with Kenwood ahead 28-26. But in the third quarter, Kenwood’s sophomore guard and top ranked sophomore in the state, Devin Cleveland, took over with three straight buckets, seniors “tj” Seals, Alex Alston and Amari Edwards each added a bucket. The Broncos two-point lead became ten points. 

The energy in Lincoln Park tiny little gym was off the scale. The cheering was deafening. In places, the feet of the fans sitting in the front row are literally on the court. The environment would be tough for even the finest teams.

Kenwood was not phased by the atmosphere. Every game they play is a tough game. They regained the number one ranking two weeks ago after close victories, but still victories over Whitney Young, Cure and Chaminade.

There was a long stoppage of play midway through the third quarter with the Lions behind by nine. The cause of the stoppage related to a disturbance at the scorer’s table and was not immediately evident. One report suggested an argument between the couches. It soon involved fans from the opposing teams arguing back and forth. One supporter of Lincoln Park was escorted from the gym. Ultimately, technical fouls were assessed against both head coaches forcing them to sit on their respective benches for the rest of the game.

Strangely, the stoppage helped Lincoln Park. They rallied.

“[My team] got a little motivated off after that little scuffle, whatever happening. [The refs] made me sit down. When I am up, I am the energy. At that time, they saw that I couldn't be with them. They rallied together and said . . . we're gonna find the energy ourselves with each other,” Anderson said.

The Lions dialed up the energy and chipped away at Kenwood’s lead. Lincoln Park’s junior forward Larry Harris led the way for the Lions with ten-points to get the Lions.

With 2:20 to play, the game was even at 60. Lincoln Park continued its full court press. Kenwood’s senior point guard Amari Edwards took control. With Lincoln Park in its high pressure full court press, Edwards calming and deliberately brought the ball up court with crisp passes and few dribbles.

“I think Amari Edwards, he's a really good player. He's a really good floor general for sure. He picked us apart at the end and he kind of took control of the game,” Anderson said of Edwards.

In crunch time with the game on the line, Edwards broke the press and the Broncos were able to get points in transition. He also added some key free throws to seal the victory.

This might not be the last time that the Lions and the Broncos meet this year. They are the top two Chicago Public League teams and could easily meet in the upcoming City Championship tournament.

And then, both teams are assigned to the toughest sectional of any in the IHSA boys basketball playoffs—Hinsdale Central. That sectional has #1 Kenwood, #6 Hinsdale Central, #8 Lincoln Park, #15 Curie, #17 Simeon, #24 St. Ignatius, and previously ranked and always dangerous, Whitney Young. No other sectional in state comes close to have that many good teams.

DePaul Prep Falls to Brother Rice 53-52

Lake View's Daniel Loza Scores 1000 Points

[Preview of my Inside-Booster story for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

It was a very good night at Lake View High School Thursday. The Wildcats defeated neighborhood rival Amundsen Vikings 74-66 to take the lead in the Chicago Public League’s White-North division on a night when the Wildcats and the Lake View school community celebrated senior guard Daniel Loza’s reaching 1000 points in his high school career. Daniel is likely to become the school’s points leading by the end of the season.

The moment wasn’t lost on Daniel, “DLo” as he is known. He wasn’t distracted by the celebration in his honor planned for after the game. He was focused on beating Amundsen. Focused on winning the school’s first conference championship in basketball.

DLo led his Wildcats scoring a career high of 32 points Thursday which included a remarkable eight three-point shots made. DLo is now the second highest point scorer in the history of Lake View High School which was established in 1874, making it the oldest public high school in the state of Illinois. The school existed before Lake View as part of the City of Chicago. 

“[Daniel Loza] is the model. When he leaves there will be a Daniel Loza Award because he has set the pace for how to do work,” said Lake View’s fourth year head coach Todd Patterson.

“He's really been working if I can say this on being a three-level scorer. That's what you saw today, him trying to score it all from the three levels. He hits the big threes, but he opens up the game up with [scoring inside and at the free throw line.]”

The school and the Friends of Lake View had arranged a celebration for Daniel’s achievement to be held after the game but there was a game to play first. The Wildcats faced off against neighboring Amundsen High School which is located just two miles north at Foster and Damen.

The Wildcats came into the game with a 9-8 record overall and a 7-0 record in the CPL White-North conference. The schedule that Lake View’s head coach Todd Patterson put together this year is tough with games against Lakes, Jacobs, Notre Dame, St. Viator, West Chicago and Highland Park. These tough games got them ready for tough conference games like this one against Amundsen. A win against Amundsen would put them in a position where they are undefeated in the conference and would be promoted into the CPL’s Red Division next season.

But first the Wildcats had to deal with a very talented Amundsen squad that came into the game 11-2, and 7-0 in the conference.

The Vikings jumped out to an early eight point lead late in the first quarter. But the Wildcats hung around until midway through the second quarter when DLo asserted himself. Hard screens and quick jumpers by DLo lead to four three-point bucket by DLo erasing the Amundsen lead. That second quarter 14-3 run by the Wildcats flipped the script and launch the Cats toward the school’s first ever conference championship in basketball in the schools 150 years.

The leading scorer in school history at the moment is Octavius Parker, a 1999 graduate. Imariz Duran, a 2024 Lake View graduate leads all girls scoring, with over 1000 points. Loza is expected to pass Parker’s scoring total by the end of the year and be the leading scorer in school history.

Coach Patterson said after the game, “Daniel’s father passed away about five years ago. Daniel’s dad is alumni. His Mom is alumni. We’ve got a lot of motivation to get this done.”

The moment was not lost on DLo. Showing a maturity beyond his tender years, Daniel reflected on his years at and family connection with Lake View.

“It’s kind of crazy because when I came to Lake View, my mom had told me that a lot of my family members have went to Lake View, but I wasn't thinking it was a basketball school. I [thought] I needed to go to a school where there's gonna be basketball. When I first came here, there was no actual basketball coach. I told my mom that I might have to transfer. So I'll wait for him to come and then it was Coach Patterson. I had a good connection with him so I stayed.”

Now Daniel is the second leading scorer in school history.