RECAP: DEPAUL PREP 36, LA 31
Tom Livatino tells it to you straight.
The Loyola Academy head boys basketball coach is not one to sugarcoat things.
Thus, he was completely honest assessing his team’s surprisingly lackluster 36-31 loss to visiting DePaul Prep on Jan. 15 in the championship game of the Loyola MLK Tournament.
“We got what we deserved,” said Livatino. “When the other team plays harder and plays smarter than you do, then this is what you get.”
The so-so performance was out of character for LA. The red-hot Ramblers, who are now 16-3, entered the contest with a 10-game win streak.
It also was the team’s first home loss of the season.
“We were not as focused as we needed to be,” Livatino said. “It [the championship] mattered more to them than it did to us.”
Livatino traced it back to his team’s poor start.
“On the first possession of the game, we give up three offensive rebounds,” the coach said. “That’s where we lost it. We didn’t play with a sense of urgency. But they did.”
And yet, the Ramblers, who were down by five points, 33-28, with 22.1 seconds left, nearly found a way to pull out a win.
“Our kids tried to hang in there,” offered Livatino.
The action on the court went up for grabs with 10 seconds left in regulation, when the officials ruled that LA senior guard Kevin Cunningham — firing it up from way, way behind the three-point line — was fouled in the act of shooting.
DePaul coach Tom Kleinschmidt, who somehow avoided a technical foul, argued — profusely — with the officials that Cunningham was not in the act of shooting.
The play stood and Cunningham went to the line and sank all three free throws to cut DePaul’s margin two points, 33-31.
But DePaul, which dropped a 48-38 decision to LA in a Chicago Catholic League Blue game on Jan. 12, sealed the win by hitting 3 of 4 free throws in the final 10 seconds.
The Rams, ranked No. 14 in the state by the Sun-Times earlier this month, improved their record to 15-4. Junior guard Perry Cowan finished the game with 15 points.
Junior sharpshooter Connor Barrett was LA’s top scorer: 13 points. He ignited the Ramblers in the second half, when he tallied 11 points on three three-pointers.
Cunningham tallied nine points. Six of those came in the opening quarter via the three-ball. The guard also pulled down eight rebounds to go along with three assists.
LA’s Game Balls: Connor Barrett (Jr., G), Kevin Cunningham (Sr., G)
DePaul’s Game Balls: Perry Cowan (Jr., G), Raheem Anthony (Jr., G)
Player of the Game: Cowan
LA’s Unsung Hero: Patrick Russell
LA’s Stat Leaders
— Barrett (13 points, 3 threes)
— Cunningham (9 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists)
— Jordan Kwiecinski (4 points, 3 assists)
— Russell (4 rebounds, 3 assists)
DePaul’s Stat Leaders
— Cowan (15 points)
— Anthony (8 points)
Bennett Kwiecinski of the Ramblers drives against DePaul’s Pavle Pantovic. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
LA’s Kevin Cunningham draws a foul against DePaul’s Lance Mosley. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
Peter Mangan of the Ramblers works for a basket inside against DePaul’s Perry Cowan. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
LA’s Nikko Landon tries to move past DePaul’s Perry Cowan. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER