Off to the Diocese Championship

When we lost to St. Anne for first place, we had to go to the playoff to determine who gets the second spot to the Diocese championship. Since we were in second place, we had to play the winner of the 3rd and 4th place teams, St. Edward and Our Lady of the Rosary. They played yesterday, and OLR won. Today, we play them for the second spot.

OLR is unpredictable. They've had a number of upset wins during the elimination round. They won a game against St. Anne, and they beat St. Edward's for a chance at the Diocese championship. For us, we played them 3 times -- twice in the elimination and once in a tournament. In all 3 games, we won. But we can never be complacent with this team.

Our game was played at Moreau's main gym. Since we were the first game, we came in early, and the players had a longer time to warm up. We had 9 players (Justine was out), while OLR had a full compliment of 13. That might work for their disadvantage because, per CYO rules, teams should play each player at least two 3.5 minute quarters. But then again, who knows what will happen.

The game was close. It was actually closer than I expected. In the 3 games we played them, it wasn't this close. I'll be honest, I was a concerned that we might be on the receiving end of an upset. And that is just a very bad way to end the season. I knew we had a good warm up because even my son, James, scored two 3-point shots. But somehow, some of our shots didn't fall in. OLR had a more forgiving basket.

If you've been keeping up, OLR has this "star" player, and he's always in the game. They hardly take him out except for a minute or so to catch his breath or to take a sip of water. With less than a minute left in the game, OLR was down by a point. In the ensuing play, this "star" player was fouled and was sent to the freethrow line. Whether it was too much pressure or he was just terrible at the foul line, we blew his chance to give his team at least a tie or the lead. He missed both shots.

As we grabbed the rebound off his miss, one of our big men, Jay, was fouled on the other end of the court. He sank the first, but missed the second. That gave as a 2-point lead. OLR failed to cash in on an attempt at the basket, and Jay was fouled again on the return play. He calmly sank both for a 4-point lead. By then, it was a matter of letting the dying seconds run out.

It was over. St. Joseph won. Now off  to the Diocese championship in two weeks.