The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE stage has been set for the Catholic Diocesan Primary Schools' Basketball League postseason. The sudden death playoffs, scheduled for Monday at Loyola Hall on Gladstone Road, will be played between the pennant winning Our Lady's Blue Flames against St. Francis/Joseph Shockers and the defending champions St Cecilia's Strikers vs. the Xavier's Giants. On Wednesday, St Francis/Joseph secured the fourth and final spot with a hard fought 29-27 victory over the St Bede's Crushers to bring the curtain down on what has been a very intense regular season and the anticipation of an even more competitive postseason. "This has been a most competitive, nail- baiting, heart-wrenching season," said league coordinator Vanta Culmer as she put the season into perspective. "This has been a very good season. Hats off to all of the coaches, the players and the teams. With having all of the games played here, I've seen a remarkable improvement in each of the teams from the start of the season right to this last game." If the regular season was any indication, Culmer said she expects next week's postseason, starting with the sudden death playoffs, to be just as keenly contested. "It could be anyone's victory," she added. The two winners from the sudden death playoffs on Monday will advance to the best-of-three championship that is slated to begin 3:30pm Wednesday. Shockers 29, Crushers 27 Although they didn't take control of the game until the second quarter, St Francis/Joseph had to hold on for their lives down the stretch as St Bede's made a gallant attempt to preserve their season in the postseason. But when they needed to step it up, the Shockers came up with the defensive stopper that enabled them to avoid going home as the Crushers couldn't get off a shot that could have tied the score in the winding seconds. With less than 50 seconds left, St Bede's trimmed a six-point lead by scoring on a fast-break lay-up before they got an in-bounds steal and another basket for the final margin. St Francis/Joseph trailed 10-3 after the first quarter and went on an 8-0 spurt in the second for a slim 11-10 advantage at the half before they extended it to 16-13 to complete the third. "It was a good game. At the end, turnovers and silly mistakes almost caused us the game," said St Francis/Joseph's coach Devon Johnson. "All season, we have been doing that, making mental mistakes. That's how we got into this predicament right now. But thank God for the win. I didn't expect us to be playing in this position, but that's how the ball bounced. We just thank God for the win." Jared Delancey and Alexander Neely, who had 13 and nine points respectively, came through with four points apiece in the fourth quarter to help secure the win for the Shockers. Justin McPhee ended up with four games. For the Crushers, Makarius Russell and Lavardo Dean both had six as they tried to provide the come-back spark in the fourth. Russell was their top scorer with 11 and Dean had eight. Xavier Dean contributed six, all in the first quarter. "It was very, very tough. We were very, very disappointed," said St Bede's coach Ricardo Freemantle. "It didn't go our way today. We missed several free throws. We missed several easy lay -ups. "We only lost by two points. Had we capitalized on our opportunities, we would not have been in this position. But hats off to St Francis/Joseph. They played better ball today." As for the playoff, Johnson said he expects "great things, just as long as my boys listen, we will be all right. We match up pretty good with Our Lady's. They have two pretty good guards. We jut have to slow them down." On hand to view the game was Our Lady's coach Rohan Parks. "All of the teams in the competition are playing even. It's just who wants it the most will turn out to be the victors," he said. "But we are confident coming into the semifinal that we can pull it off." Parks said the Shockers are very athletic, but their Blue Flames are looking at playing a zone defense and posting up on the inside and taking the game to their opponents.