DePaul Prep tops Mount Carmel to win Illinois Class 3A boys basketball title

Rams won second straight championship after winning 2A last year

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – You wouldn't think a 36-2 back-to-back state champ would have faced much adversity.

But DePaul Prep did have its challenges en route to an unprecedented double, and those hurdles helped the Rams make history Saturday night at State Farm Center.

Junior guards Makai Kvamme and Rob Walls scored 18 and 10 points respectively, and DePaul played its trademark sticky defense en route to a 49-41 win against league rival Mount Carmel in the Illinois Class 3A final.

Northwestern recruit Angelo Ciaravino scored a game-high 24 points for the Caravan (32-6), but none of his teammates had more than seven.

The Rams, who won Class 2A last season, became the first team in IHSA history to win consecutive championships in two different classes. Their only two losses were to Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal, the two teams who met in the Class 4A final later Saturday.

DePaul not only went unbeaten in the Catholic League Blue – arguably the state's toughest conference – the Rams kept piling up wins while dealing with health issues. Walls missed a good chunk of the year and junior forward Jonas Johnson had a season-ending injury.

No wonder senior guard PJ Chambers' prevailing emotion afterward was "just gratitude, thankfulness.

"We've been through so much."

"The losses taught us a lot," Rams coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. "You saw Makai step up and make free throws (against Mount Carmel). He missed two free throws in overtime against Normal. ... I said, 'Man, you learn more from failure. That's how you get success.' And he just stepped up and was cold-blooded, knocked them down."

Illinois (IHSA) boys basketball state championships live updates: Day 3 updates, results, stories (3/9/2024)

DePaul, which beat Mount Carmel 41-38 on Feb. 12, never trailed on Saturday. The Rams led 9-0 midway through the first quarter and were up as many as 12, 21-9, midway through the second quarter.

"Coach told us we couldn't come (out) behind at the start of the game and we had to start out strong," said Kvamme, who scored eight in the first quarter. "So I knew I had experience and I felt confident to start the game."

Ciaravino almost single-handedly kept Mount Carmel in the game and the Caravan twice cut the deficit to three down the stretch.

"We did a great job on him the first half and the second half, he got loose a little bit," Kleinschmidt said. "He's a Lawless Player of the Year (in the Catholic Blue). We're all from the same neighborhood. same league. We all know each other. He made big plays, he's going to Northwestern for a reason."

But the Rams were not to be denied.

"I've got winners, man," Kleinschmidt said. "I mean, talking about the summer is silly. But nobody beat us with a full team. ...

"And they're selfless. Twelve, 13 points. Twelve, 13 points. Nine, 10 points. Very balanced. We never talked about shots or points."

Despite the Rams having some key pieces back from a state-title team, Chambers knew there were doubters outside the program.

"Ever since we won last year – when we moved up – a lot of people said we were gonna have a rough time in 3A and we wouldn't get to the point we're at right now," he said. "And it only fueled our fire, and it made us work hard.

"And this is where we got to."

DePaul Prep defeated Mount Carmel to win the 2024 Illinois Class 3A boys basketball championship / Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

Illinois Class 3A boys basketball championship: DePaul Prep - Mount Carmel

Photos by Tim Vizer

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- Mike Clark | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIL