While Community’s height and length have been tauted as the team’s strength this season, point guard Braylon Roman has been the squad’s most consistent offensive threat. Photo Courtesy: Jeff Christopherson

The Ironmen boys basketball team take on the DePaul College Prep Rams in Saturday’s When Sides Collide Showcase. Community (18-3) tips off against the Rams (17-1) at 1 p.m. at Lisle’s Benet Academy looking for a win against an elite opponent. 

Community’s three losses this season have all come against elite teams, falling to a ranked 3A Thornton 44-37 in Dec. 16’s Southern Illinois Classic Shootout before losing to Waubonsie Valley 40-38 and Downers Grove North 40-35 in tournament play over Martin Luther King weekend.

With a different schedule, the Ironmen easily could be undefeated. But this is the schedule Community’s head coach Mr. Dave Witzig sought out. 

“We want to compete and play against great teams,” Witzig said. 

And compete they have.

This past weekend, two baskets were differences between a win and a loss against 18-0 Waubonsie, ranked 4th in Jan. 15’s Class 4A Associated Press rankings, and 16-3 Downers Grove North, 8th in 4A.

“Those games,” Witzig said, “are just great yardsticks to see where we’re at.”

The 6th ranked Iron have shown they can compete against some of the state’s best, but they have fallen just short of notching wins against those standout squads. 

“We’ve been in every game,” Witzig said. 

But the veteran coach said it’s time for the Iron to start taking home some victories against their opponents from up north. 

“We have to start winning some of these games,” Witzig said. “The mindset up there is that the central Illinois downstate [teams]  aren’t as good as the Chicago teams, so losing kind of hurts. We have a couple more cracks at those teams up there.”  

But Community’s record against some of the state’s top team’s, according to Mrs. Beth Wagner, administrative assistant to the athletic director, isn’t really about wins or losses, it’s about experience.

These matchups, Wagner said, are about “strength of schedule so that when we get to the postseason we’ve played good competition.” 

Competition, Wagner said, will help prepare the Iron for postseason success. 

DePaul College Prep is no stranger to postseason success or recording big wins against Bloomington-Normal teams; last season, the Rams took down the Bloomington Central Catholic Saints in the Class 2A State title game, taking home the program’s first state title. 

The defending Class 2A State champions enter Saturday’s contest with just one loss on the season, falling to a 17-1 Homewood-Flossmoor team 57-46 on Jan. 6. 

That’s a quality loss for Depaul, who moved up to class 3A this season, as Homewood-Flossmoor tops the most recent Class 4A AP rankings.   

The Rams’ record can be attributed to the team’s returning stars–6-foot-7 senior Jaylan Mcelroy, senior guard PJ Chambers and junior point guard Makai Kvamme.

“Mcelroy,” Witzig said, “can really score.” 

That success comes without the help of one of the team’s standouts last season, Payton Kamin. Kamin, a 6-foot-8 guard instrumental in the team’s postseason run last year, has transferred to Massachuttes’ private Worcester Academy.    

The Rams will be without two starters in the matchup–Rob Walls and Jonas Johnson, both out with injuries. Expected to see some major minutes, as a result, is 6-foot-7 sophomore Rashaun Porter. 

But Porter might have seen significant time on the floor regardless, as the Rams’ roster features just two athletes listed at 6-foot-7. 

Community’s height and length will be the team’s advantage if 6-foot-10 Jaheem Webber and 6-foot-8 Noah Cleveland are able to capitalize on their scoring chances inside. 

An added wrinkle in the contest will be the shot clock.

This will be Community’s first shock clock game of the season, part of a slow roll out before the IHSA formally introduces the change to Illinois high school basketball. 

The Ironmen, Witzig said, experienced the shot clock for the first time last season in one tournament game. 

“I’m not even sure if it’s 30 or 35 [seconds],” Witzig said. “It’ll be a fun opportunity for us tomorrow cause the team were playing, play[s] slow so we’re going to try to cheat them for 35 seconds.”

The addition of a shot clock, Witzig thinks, “would’ve been great for our team this year, because we have a team that can really get up and down the floor. So it’ll be fun to try it at this shootout.” 

A fun game might be a challenging one, Witzig said. 

“We know it’s going to be tough,” the coach said. “We just read [that] the Chicago Tribune has us losing 44-42.” The Rams are “unique,” “they’re probably a little smaller than most teams” and their “scores [are] really low.”