[A preview of this week’s piece in the Inside-Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
Lane Tech had no answer for Rashaun Porter. DePaul Prep senior forward Rashaun Porter, a early candidate for player of the year, put up 26 points against Lane Tech in the finale of this year’s Batte of the Bridge Tournament at Lane Tech. The #1 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (3-0) defeated the Lane Tech Champions (1-2) 53-24 Wednesday night.
The Champions did a great job stopping DePaul Prep’s other Division 1 recruit Rykan Woo (Brown University) holding him scoreless in the first half.
“That was the game plan. But we did not do our game plan with Porter,” said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo.
“It was the exact opposite last year where we really cut out Porter, but we had Dalton [Scantlebury, playing for Penn this year] and [DePaul Prep senior guard Rykan Woo] really went off on us,” LoGalbo added.
“So I thought we did a pretty good job on [Woo]. That was our game plan to cut those two out as best we could and make others beat us. But Porter really killed us.”
With Lane bringing out the defense to stop Woo, the Lane opened up for Porter.
“It just opened up there really. I didn’t even notice that Woo was cold. I thought he was pretty good. He just did some things that just can’t be put on the stat sheet,” said Lashaun Porter.
Porter, a commit to Division 1 Toledo University, has become one of the top players in the City this season. He is ranked #5 in PrepHoops.com’s class of the 2026 players behind only Whitney Young’s Marquis Clark for top players in the City.
Somewhat unbelieveably, Rashaun Porter has been on state championship winning teams every year of high school. The DePaul Prep Rams won the 2A state championship in 2022 and 3A in 2023 and 2024. One might think he would be resting on his laurels, maybe looking ahead to college a little.
Not Rashaun.
“I lost weight over the course of four years. I've lost a lot of weight, trying to get slimmer and prepare for college and bulk up and using more strength instead of fat,” Porter said.
“It’s boosted my game tremendously. Made me quicker and faster. Then I got in the weight room, so I did get stronger.”
It’s early in the year and the Rams are still growing into their new starting line-up. Porter, Woo and senior point guard AJ Chambers return to the starting line-up from last year’s 3A championship team. Added to the starting lineup are juniors Gus Johnson who takes his brother Jonas’ spot. Jonas Johnson now plays at DePaul University. New to the line-up and the school is Zion Lee, a transfer from Springfield’s Sacred Heart—Griffin high school.
While obviously pleased with the win and the performance of his start player Porter, DePaul Prep head coach and Gordon Tech legend, Tom Kleinschimdt was circumspect about the early 3-0 for his Rams.
“We are we are not where we need to be three games in. We are usually a little bit better shape. I think you can see it in our woeful shooting percentage from three,” Kleinschmidt said.
“I think we left a lot out there today. I'm not sitting here knocking my team. I'm just saying I think we got a lot to work on, a lot to improve on. It's got to happen quick. We've got Hyde Park Sunday who's really good. We’ve got Loyola then we’ve got La Lumiere. So it better happened quickly.”
