Zion Lee sparks DePaul Prep past Warren in a state playoff tune-up
Zion Lee, a transfer from Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, was the major addition of the offseason for No. 2 DePaul Prep. Back in November, his coaches and teammates knew it would take a while for Lee to get up to speed with all of the Rams’ defensive schemes and offensive sets. The senior had a lot of homework to catch up on. Lee has been faithfully putting that work in, and it started to pay off on Thursday in a packed gym in Gurnee.
“I love to play in big games like this,” Lee said. “This is where I rise up the most. It’s been a lot of learning here, but my teammates trusted me and I trusted myself. I’m just doing whatever the coaches tell me. I’m feeling a lot more comfortable now.”
The strong, mobile guard scored 12 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and sparked DePaul Prep to a 58-54 win against No. 5 Warren in a playoff atmosphere.
“The kid is fearless, which is something we love about him,” Rams guard Rykan Woo said. “He was amazing. We have been waiting for this. We know this is who he is and who he will continue to be.”
Warren (28-3) was building some momentum early, and the large crowd started to make some noise. Lee shut it down with a three pointer at the end of the first quarter, and then the Rams took control of the game with a 12-0 burst midway through the second quarter.
Woo scored eight in the run and finished with 15 points. Rashaun Porter, a 6-7 senior, led the Rams (26-3) with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“[Lee] was awesome,” DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. “We asked a lot of him and he’s coming along great. He’s a beast, physical, and he’s been making shots for us the last six or seven games. And he got us going when we were flat to start. That was huge for us.”
Warren star Jaxson Davis scored six points in the first half and finished with 15. The junior was 1-for-8 from three-point range. The Blue Devils shot 5 of 24 from three.
“There is not a whole lot you can do about Jaxson,” Woo said. “We did the best we could. We had to make it as hard as we could on him. The coaches did a great job preparing us and our scout team. They don’t get appreciated as much as they should. They played a huge role in this.”
DePaul Prep led 54-42 after a three-point play from Porter with 1:56 left and some fans started to leave.
But Warren chipped away and cut the lead to 57-54 on two free throws by Davis with 8 seconds left. That was as close as it would get.
“With our size we try to make teams beat us on contested twos and take the three away,” Kleinschmidt said. “We wanted to show on Jaxson early. We did a nice job guarding. When they had 22 points at half I was really happy.”
Senior Braylon Walker led Warren with 20 points and nine rebounds and senior forward Avonn King added 11 points and six rebounds.
This was the final game of the regular season for the Blue Devils. DePaul Prep hosts Ridgewood on Friday. Both teams are among a handful of top contenders for the Class 4A state title.
“This is a good game for us,” Blue Devils coach Zack Warren said. “We got better. We needed a tight physical game, we haven’t had many of them this year. We didn’t hit a lot of shots and the margin for error is really small against a team like that.”