Stagg’s David Ortiz could always shoot.

His ability to knock down 3-pointers earned him a role on varsity as a sophomore and helped him become a valuable sixth man most of last season as a junior. But Ortiz wanted to help his team in more than one way as the senior forward prepped to be a full-time starter.

“I put in a lot of work in the offseason to be able to do a lot more things,” Ortiz said. “I’m doing a lot more rebounding. I feel like I’m a bigger presence with boxing out and rebounding offensively and defensively.”

Make no mistake, though. Ortiz can still shoot.

He hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter Wednesday night to help host Stagg start fast on its way to a 66-34 win over Shepard in a battle of Palos Hills vs. Palos Heights.

Ortiz finished with 14 points and six rebounds for the Chargers (13-5). Connor Williams also scored 14 points, while Domas Narcevicius added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Jeremiah Storey had eight points and seven rebounds to pace Shepard (4-11). Sophomore Danny McGovern finished with six points.

Ortiz, whose parents are Chicago Cubs fans but named him after the former Boston Red Sox slugger, will never be as big as his namesake. But he’s worked hard on bulking up and developing toughness to compete for rebounds and play tough defense inside.

He also plays football, which helps in that regard.

“The physicality of football is big for me,” he said. “We do a lot of lifting, and then just being on the football field and being a part of that physicality, it transfers over to the basketball court.”

Stagg coach Marty Strus has seen Ortiz turn into way more than just a one-trick pony.

“He’s one of the guys, if not the most, who has evolved during his time here,” Strus said. “His sophomore year, he came up to varsity and it was just, ‘David, go shoot the ball.’ That’s what he did best, and the other areas of his game were what he really needed to work on.

“Now as a senior, he’s put some weight on, and he’s been big for us with handling pressure. He’s been better as a rebounder. He’s evolved into a more complete player. He’s been huge for us this season.”

Of course, it still feels good when the 3-pointers are falling the way they were for Ortiz against Shepard.

“Oh yeah,” Ortiz said. “When I hit the early shots like that, I want to get the ball as much as I can after that.”

Stagg built a 34-13 halftime lead on its way to its 13th victory, already equaling last season’s win total.

Senior forward Yousef Jarad, who scored seven points off the bench, is excited about the team the Chargers have.

“The way we’ve come together as seniors is great,” Jarad said. “There are a lot of us, and we all know we have something special here. We all cherish that and we don’t waste opportunities.

“We all have a dying, burning passion for winning. Nobody on this team comes on the court with anything other than a ferocious mindset.”

According to Jarad, Ortiz exemplifies that.

“He’s been tremendous this year,” Jarad said. “Everything on the court you can imagine — points, rebounds, assists — he does it all, whether it’s a glamorous thing or not. I can’t say enough about the guy’s ability to score the ball, and he’s just willing to do anything for the team.

“I’ve never seen a single selfish bit of energy come out of him.”

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The Chicago White Sox reached one-year deals with all seven of their arbitration-eligible players Thursday, including starting pitcher Dylan Cease.

The Sox and Cease came to terms on a one-year, $8 million contract. The 28-year-old right-hander, who went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA and 214 strikeouts in 33 starts in 2023, has been mentioned in trade speculation throughout the offseason.

During a video conference with reporters this week, general manager Chris Getz said the Sox have had conversations involving Cease, “but I also know that we’re not going to move a player like Dylan or anyone else unless we feel like we’re going to benefit,” he said. “So it’s got to be right for all parties.”

Whether the Sox hold on to Cease — the American League Cy Young Award runner-up in 2022, when he went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA — or deal him is one of the major questions remaining this offseason.

The Sox also avoided arbitration with infielder Nicky Lopez ($4.3 million), first baseman Andrew Vaughn ($3.25 million) and pitchers Michael Kopech ($3 million), Michael Soroka ($3 million), Touki Toussaint ($1.3 million) and Garrett Crochet ($800,000).

Kopech went 5-12 with a 5.43 ERA in 30 appearances (27 starts) in 2023. He moved back to the rotation in 2022 after spending most of 2021 as a reliever.

Crochet also plans to build up to go from the bullpen to the rotation. He had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023 after missing the 2022 season following Tommy John surgery.

Vaughn slashed .258/.314/.429 with 21 home runs and 80 RBIs as he moved to his natural position of first base after spending much of his first two seasons in the outfield.

Toussaint went 4-6 with a 4.97 ERA in 19 outings (15 starts) with the Sox, who claimed him off waivers in June. Soroka and Lopez were acquired in November as part of a six-player trade with the Atlanta Braves.

The Sox also announced they have named Jin Wong assistant general manager. He spent the previous 24 seasons (2000-23) with the Kansas City Royals, the last two as vice president/assistant GM.

Among his responsibilities with the Sox, Wong will oversee contract negotiations, salary arbitration, budgeting and payroll management and compliance with Major League Baseball rules and regulations, including the collective bargaining agreement.

Wong’s professional career began in 1997 with the Braves. His previous roles with the Royals were assistant GM for baseball administration (2015-21), director of baseball administration (2006-14), director of baseball operations (2004-05), manager of baseball operations (2002-03), manager of scouting operations (2001-02) and scouting operations coordinator (2000).

Wong joins the Sox as assistant GM Jeremy Haber is leaving the organization.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. military fired another wave of ship- and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites Wednesday, U.S. officials said, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.

The strikes followed the official announcement that the U.S. has put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists. The sanctions that come with the formal designation are meant to sever violent extremist groups from their sources of financing.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public yet.

Despite the sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation Friday carried out by U.S. and British warships and warplanes that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen, the Houthis are continuing their harassment campaign of commercial and military ships. The latest incident occurred Wednesday when a one-way attack drone was launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen and struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned and -operated M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.

The U.S. has also strongly warned Iran to cease providing weapons to the Houthis. On Thursday a U.S. raid on a dhow intercepted ballistic missile parts the U.S. said Iran was shipping to Yemen. Two U.S. Navy SEALs remain unaccounted for after one was knocked off the vessel by a wave during the seizure and the second followed the overcome SEAL into the water.

On Wednesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. would continue to take military action to prevent further attacks.

“They are exploiting this situation to conduct attacks against the ships and vessels from more than 50 countries … around the world. And so we’re going to continue to work with our partners in the region to prevent those attacks or deter those attacks in the future,” Ryder said.

There have been several incidents since the Friday joint operations. The Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward a U.S. Navy destroyer over the weekend, but the ship shot it down. The Houthis then struck a U.S.-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday and a Malta-flagged bulk carrier in the Red Sea on Tuesday. In response Tuesday, the U.S. struck four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch and presented an imminent threat to merchant and U.S. Navy ships in the region.

Hours later, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia. The ship was hit, but no one was injured and it continued on its way.

The second of three young brothers involved in a west-central Minnesota utility terrain vehicle crash earlier this month has died.

The Minnesota State Patrol offered the update about Harrison Dahl, 11, of New London, on Wednesday morning.

The boys’ mother, Lara Dahl, also wrote in a CaringBridge post that Drew Dahl, 10, was discharged earlier this week from Minneapolis’ Children’s Hospital.

“He needs to take it easy for the next month,” Lara Dahl wrote, “so after his FaceTime with his buddy they made a plan that he can be the ref of the football game.”

The crash occurred Jan. 7 when the brothers’ UTV collided with a pickup truck in rural Kandiyohi County.

William Dahl, 15, died at the Minneapolis hospital on Jan. 10. He was driving the Polaris Ranger with his younger brothers as passengers.

Lara Dahl wrote that she and her husband, Mike, were at a loss for words over all the support the family has been receiving from their community.

“We are just blown away by the love that our boys and family are receiving. We cannot thank everyone enough.”

A GoFundMe account has raised more than $167,000 for the family.

The driver of the pickup truck, Matthew Leroy Anderson, 40, of Sunburg, was not injured in the crash. He was wearing a seat belt, as were the two younger boys in the UTV.

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