Saturday is an even bigger day than tonight and Wednesday because three of our teams will wrap up the St. Mary's boys basketball playoff portion of the season, with the 4th, 5th and 7th graders in action.
This will mark the first time any of these players have played in a CYO playoff game.
The 4th and 5th grade go into their games as the favorites, with the 4th grade beating St. Thomas More the first time by about 20 points, and the 5th grade beating St. Peter Pacifica on two separate occasions.
But come playoff time, anything can happen so these two teams will need to be on guard and play their best game to date.
For the 4th grade, the scoring comes mainly from Jonathan and Jason. They will need to be at the top of their offensive game like they were the last time these two teams met. The other three members of the team all have shown they are capable to contribute offensively, but more importantly, their defense needs to be top notch.
They are not a very big team and will need their post players to rebound to start fast breaks. They are a good team in transition as Jonathan can distribute the ball to open players as well as taking it himself.
Once again, this is a team of five players so fatigue could come into play. It's a lot less tiring when you are playing ahead, than coming from behind, so a solid start will definitely stack the odds in the 4th grade's favor.
5th Grade
The 5th grade took first place in their division and will play the No. 4 seed, St. Peter Pacifica.
These two teams met last Friday in one of the ugliest CYO games I had ever seen. Both teams couldn't take care of the ball and the officiating lacked a lot to be desired. In the end, St. Mary's came out on top by a final score of 10-4.
The fact that they were able to hold St. Peter Pac shows that they probably won't be a team that will score very much, so if the 5th grade can put up a good offensive showing, they should not have much trouble.
However, if the offense goes cold, it could be another one of those games where once bounce can dictate the outcome of the game.
Raymond wasn't at his best last game, and neither was the rest of the team. Their shooting and lay-ups that were so reliable went missing. Their free throws were also pretty bad as they missed all their shots from the line.
Our 5th graders are volume shooters, so they need to make a few baskets early on the get their confidence going.
The defense is solid, and rebounding has been improved with the addition of The Twins.
7th Grade
The 7th grade will face an uphill battle as they play Stuart Hall in their home gym. Last time these two teams met, the 7th grade had their most disappointing game of the year.
Two of their keys to victory lie in the hands of two 7th graders who played last year, Hartman and Jason.
Hartman has had trouble taking care of the ball, so him running the offense will be key in whether they can pull off an upset or not. Hartman needs to basically take care of the ball and if he can do that and keep the team in the game, it will be a success.
Jason needs to play like a big man. The last meeting between the two, Jason wasn't very strong underneath and let the other team push him around. In the last game and previous practices, Jason has stepped up his game, and we'll hope it translates to Saturday.
If he can be a force in the middle, it will take pressure off others on his team as well as make it tougher for the other team to get off shots.
This is a quick team they are up against and it will take the 7th grade's "A" game to advance to the finals.
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