Chicago Dyett vs. Belleville Althoff - 2A IHSA Championship Game

2A IHSA Championship Game

Chicago Dyett

Belleville Althoff

Chicago Dyett (52) - Coleman 4 0 2-2 10, A. Brown, Jr. 2 0 1-3 5, McKinnon 1 4 3-4 17, Harris 0 1 0-0 3, Shelton 0 1 1-4 3, J. Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Johnson 2 0 0-0 4, Dunbar 0 0 0-0 0, Love 0 1 2-4 5, Wilson 0 0 2-2 2, Talor 0 0 0-0 0, A. Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Tobar 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10/3FG-7/FT-11-19/PF-10.

Belleville Althoff (41) - Gryzmala 1 2 2-2 10, Smith 0 0 2-2 2, Hill, Jr. 1 2 4-4 12, Winkeler 3 2 2-2 14, Leib 0 0 1-2 1, Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Conway 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-6/3FG-6/FT-11-12/PF-22.

Fouled Out – Hill, Jr., Winkeler, Leib - Belleville Althoff.
Technical Fouls – Gryzmala, Smith - Belleville Althoff.

Dyett ends Althoff's dream season
Eagles fly past Crusaders late; win 2A championship 52-41

03/15/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHAMPAIGN – Time after time during the postseason the Belleville Althoff Crusaders would turn games around with big scoring runs and put away their opponents defensively.

But Saturday night Chicago Dyett proved to be no ordinary opponent.

The Eagles took the ball right at Althoff, especially in the second half, and the normally cool and calm Crusaders folded up late.

Three Althoff players fouled out and a pair of technical fouls assessed in the fourth quarter were just too much of a hurdle to clear.

Dyett took care of late business and brought the 2A championship back to Chicago with a 52-41 victory.

Coach Jamaal Gill and Company had all the answers as they stood tall defensively and rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second quarter to tie the game 25-25 at the half.

Uncharacteristically Althoff caught the turnover bug and their shooting prowess, that had served them well leading into the championship contest, failed them at the worst possible time.

Coach Greg Leib saw his club commit 14 turnovers and hit just 12-of-46 shots from the floor.

From the 3-point line, the Crusaders ended up only 6-of-29.

Those numbers will not, under most circumstances, produce championships at any level.

The careers of four senior starters came to a close on Saturday with Dierre Hill, Jr., Bryden Gryzmala, Zach Winkeler and Patton Leib playing their final prep basketball games.

Winkeler ended up leading Althoff with 14-points while Hill, Jr. scored 12 and Gryzmala 10.

Leib, Hill, Jr. and Winkeler fouled out and Gryzmala and junior Luke Smith picked up technical fouls during a nightmare fourth quarter where the Eagles outscored Althoff 21-9 to take control and the championship.

Dyett took home the title and improved the final mark to 27-7.

“Althoff Catholic was a very tough team. I wasn't sure what to expect today but we stuck to our game plan,” said Coach Gill. “We wanted to make sure that we went downhill against them. I saw against Christ the King that they packed the middle so our plan was to get the ball in the paint and then find our shooters.”

Six-four senior guard Jaden McKinnon hit 4-of-5 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for the Eagles and 6-3 senior guard Ricky Coleman scored 10.

Dyett had nine different players score and their bench outscored Althoff's reserves 13-2.

Coach Gill's club also took better advantage of the turnover war, scoring 20 points off of Althoff mistakes.

Hill, Jr. spent nearly 10 minutes of playing time on the bench with foul trouble, which hurt the championship cause.

“It (foul trouble) affected our ability to score. Not having Dierre out there takes away a prospective of our team,” said Coach Leib.

The senior guard, who is heading to the University of Oregon to play football, fouled out with 1:43 remaining with the Crusaders down 42-38.

(CONTINUED)

A technical foul was issued to Smith during the dead ball situation after Hill, Jr. was disqualified.

McKinnon nailed down the two technical free throws and freshman guard Aramis Brown converted on a fast break lay in while being fouled by Winkeler.

The three-point play pushed the lead to 47-38 and the foul sent Winkeler to the bench with his fifth personal.

Dyett put the championship outcome to rest in the final minutes, hitting 5-of-6 free throws before a cosmetic 3-pointer from Althoff in the final seconds closed the scoring.

“They (Dyett) play a disciplined brand of defense and that is tough to compete against,” said Coach Leib.

The Eagles managed to win in spite of their own shooting woes.

They hit just 17-of-44 from the floor but, which was five more buckets than Althoff.

The Crusaders managed to out-rebound the bigger Dyett team 34-29 but that is little consolation for the team that was ranked number one in the Associated Press 2A poll for most of the season but had to settle for second best.

“It was a long season and this reward is great,” said Coach Gill. “I trust my guys. I don't call a lot of timeouts because these guys usually figure it out. We work hard and it shows. We've won tight games, we've been down and we fight back. We're that type of team.”

Althoff fell short of completing a boy's trifecta in sports, having won both 1A football and 2A soccer in the fall.

The Crusaders opened up the game like they would make quick work of the championship matchup.

Hill, Jr. landed a pair of 3-point bombs and tossed in a pair of free throws while Winkeler scored on a drive and also hit from the charity stripe for a 15-6 first quarter advantage.

The lead expanded to 23-12 when Hill, Jr. scored on a rebound and Winkeler canned a 3-pointer from the right corner on an assist from Gryzmala.

But Dyett put on a rally with a 12-2 run to even things at the break.

Junior guard Christian Love hit a 3-pointer before McKinnon score on a pair of open 3-point shots from the left wing and then scored inside off of another Althoff turnover to send the game to intermission even up.

“They got hot. They got some run outs and we got some guys who didn't make good decision and that is basketball,” said Coach Leib. “They had the momentum going in (halftime).”

Hill, Jr. picked up his second foul on a charge with :36 left to go in the half and spent the first 5:43 of the third quarter next to Coach Leib on the sidelines.

Dyett took the lead back with a Hill, Jr. on the bench but Althoff rallied once the 5-11 senior guard got back on the floor.

Hill, Jr. picked up assists on the next two Althoff scores; a jumper from Gryzmala and a Winkeler 3-pointer from the left corner.

Trailing 31-30, Althoff's 6-5 junior forward Kyle Johnson threw up an “excuse me” baseline 12-footer from the right side that found the mark for a 32-31 lead heading to the final quarter.

But the slight momentum switch didn't last long for the Crusaders.

A 3-pointer by McKinnon gave the lead back to Dyett and Hill, Jr. picked up his fourth foul on another charging call with 6:53 remaining.

Althoff committed five fourth quarter turnovers and hit just 3-of-13 shot attempts in the final eight minutes, 1-of-9 from the 3-point line.

The one trey made was by Gryzmala with :11.6 left after the damage had been done.

Althoff finished the season 32-6.

“We never really got into a rhythm tonight. We got into foul trouble and it felt awkward. It was like me on the dance floor,” said Coach Leib. “The guys kept battling but we hit the fourth quarter and we just couldn't buy a bucket.”