By Xavier Sanchez
Correspondent
Competing for and winning state championships are not new for Mount Carmel.
Except in basketball.
The Caravan football and wrestling teams have already won state titles this school year — the second consecutive championship for the former and the second in three seasons for the latter — but the basketball program’s last appearance in a state championship game prior to this season came in 1985, when they edged Springfield Lanphier in the IHSA Class AA title game.
This season’s team fell just short of replicating that level of success, falling to Chicago Catholic League Blue rival DePaul Prep, 49-41, in the Class 3A state championship game in Champaign on March 9.
The Rams jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and never trailed, but the Caravan were within three points late in the fourth quarter.
Mount Carmel senior Angelo Ciaravino finished with a game-high 24 points along with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in the loss.
“There was no doubt in my mind — win, lose or draw, that was how he was going to finish his career,” Caravan coach Phil Segroves said of Ciaravino.
Segroves referred to his players as “warriors” during the postgame press conference, noting his team competed to the final horn.
One of those warriors was Lee Marks.
Marks sustained a fractured elbow on Feb. 6 and missed seven games. The senior shooting guard returned for the Caravan’s state semifinal matchup against Mt. Zion on March 8 and scored eight points off the bench. He played 23 minutes in the state final, finisheing with four points, four rebounds and an assist in defeat.
“He worked incredibly hard in physical therapy — extremely hard,” Segroves said of Marks. “I credit our trainer, Joe Qualter.”
DePaul set the tone early, with Rams guard Makai Kvamme scored eight of his 18 points in the first quarter. Mount Carmel did not get on the scoreboard until nearly halfway through the first quarter on a field goal from Grant Best.
The Caravan shot 28.7 percent in the second quarter while DePaul, which employed a stalling tactic on offense, went 4-of-8 from the field. The Rams’ shooting combined with their extended possessions caused trouble for Mount Carmel, and DePaul led 24-12 at the half.
The Caravan outscored the Rams 11-5 in the third quarter, holding DePaul to a single field goal. Northwestern commit Angelo Ciaravino made a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left that cut the Rams lead to 29-23, which was the score heading into the fourth quarter.
Ciaravino notched another triple with 6:35 to go in the game to reduce the deficit to five. The Northwestern commit scored nine points in the fourth quarter.
Later in the quarter, Mount Carmel sophomore Noah Mister hit a 3 of his own pulling the Caravan within three points with 1:45 to play. That would be the closest they would get, with dePaul hitting 10 free throws without a miss over the final 92 seconds.
Mister finished with seven points.
“He’s learning more and more each day in regard to how we play Mount Carmel basketball, and he could possibly go down as one of the top point guards to play at Mount Carmel,” Segroves said of Mister.
DePaul’s Rob Walls scored 10 points. PJ Chambers and Jaylan McElroy had eight points apiece for the Rams.
Segroves likes the direction Mount Carmel is headed.
“We are getting a lot more interest in young men that are looking for a great Catholic education, but also play basketball,” he said. “The juniors and the one sophomore at this table have an unbelievably bright future.”
Ciaravino is excited for the future of the program he helped build into a state title contender.
“We keep getting great, high-quality students and basketball players,” Ciaravino said. “Guys are starting to want to come and build that basketball tradition at Mount Carmel and it is really starting to get there, and I feel it keeps getting better and better every year.”
