Dyett High School basketball player Rickey Coleman (center) and his teammates celebrate their Class 2A state championship win on Saturday, March 15, 2025.
Staff writer
Dyett High School basketball player Rickey Coleman (center) and his teammates celebrate their Class 2A state championship win on Saturday, March 15, 2025.
The Walter H. Dyett Eagles capped a remarkable playoff run on Saturday with the first state basketball championship in the school’s history. They beat Belleville’s Althoff Catholic High School 52-41 in downstate Champaign under the bright lights of the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center.
While delighted for his players, the Chicago Public School, which in 2015 only narrowly averted closure due to a month-long hunger strike, and the Bronzeville-Washington Park community in which Dyett is rooted, Eagles head coach Jamaal Gill said that winning the state title game was a bittersweet moment for him personally.
With 10 seniors on his roster, including stars Jayden McKinnon and Ricky Coleman, Gill said he was “really sad that this was our last game” together. After the game, both coach and players shed a few tears, and not just ones of joy.
“I’m losing family,” Gill said. “Just knowing that these guys won’t be able to lace up another sneaker for me or shoot another basket when I need it.”
Gill recalled telling McKinnon and Coleman when they joined his program as eighth graders that he couldn’t promise that they would land Division One scholarships, but that he could promise them that they would “learn this game and be able to compete at a high level.”
Four years and a championship title later, Gill appears to have delivered on his promise, but he said the trust from his players was there from the start, enabling them to overcome adversity during the season, their playoff run and eventually in the championship game.
Hard-fought losses to Evanston and Marist earlier in the season were a “testament to a team that could play in big games,” Gill said. The team finished on a seven-game winning streak to go 27-7 overall.
“I said I was going to stick with those guys that stuck with me,” he said. “I rode those guys, and they came through with big performances.”
McKinnon, the team’s “workhorse all year,” led the Eagles with a game-high 17 points. Gill said McKinnon had “ice in his veins,” taking and making difficult shots.
“I think he hit one where it looked like he was sitting in the first row,” Gill said wryly.
Not to be outdone, Coleman, who “did everything on the floor,” according to Gill, chipped in 10 points to go with seven rebounds.
The Eagles soared to victory with a 9-0 run in the final minutes of play that also saw three key Crusaders fouled out. But for much of the first half, the game seemed to be headed Althoff’s way.
Dyett got out to a slow shooting start, making only two baskets in the first quarter. Althoff, on the other hand, started off strong behind a pair of three pointers and a couple free throws by Crusader star Dierre Hill, Jr. Althoff’s Zach Winkeler and Bryden Gryzmala contributed another seven points to put the Crusaders up 15-6 after one.
A Winkeler three-pointer late in the second quarter gave the Crusaders an 11-point advantage, at which point Gill decided he needed to make a change.
To get his players to up their defensive intensity, Gill had them institute a full-court press. That led to several turnovers, resulting in easy fast-break buckets to put Dyett back in the game. By halftime, the score was knotted up, 25-25.
That let the Crusaders know that the Eagles were “not going to go down without a fight,” Gill said.
So, despite the early setbacks, the Eagles were confident they could pull off the upset against No. 1-seed Althoff (31-6) heading into the second half. According to Gill, Coleman caught him in the locker room at halftime and said, “Coach, I’m not going to lose this.”
Locked-in to start the second half, the Eagles took a five-point, 30-25 advantage before surrendering seven points to the Crusaders to end the third quarter. But they got their momentum back quickly to start the fourth, taking a four-point lead that they never surrendered.
Althoff, desperately trying to narrow the scoring margin as the clock ticked down, resorted to fouling to no avail. The Eagles made their free throws and held the Crusaders to difficult shots from the floor. They’d score only nine points in the quarter to the Eagles’ 21 points.
Although eager to celebrate the victory, the Eagles drove straight back to Chicago after the game. Exhausted but elated, Gill said he was already thinking about the 2025-26 season on the ride back.
“I’m looking forward to Christian Lowe and Jacob Johnson stepping up next year,” he said. “We should be back (in Champaign) again.”
Staff writer
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Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 44F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..
Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 44F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
Updated: March 17, 2025 @ 5:10 pm
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