D8 Senior: Rez's OT Win over SMHS Sets Up Wild Standings Finish

It is conceivable that this year will go down as a year where the District 8 Senior Boys' basketball league was the deepest (top to bottom) in it's 25ish year history.

At the very least, the final day of the regular season schedule will prove to be one of the most important in recent memory.

Unbeaten St. Benedict (11-0) has locked up top spot in the circuit, and will have a bye for the league's final schedule date of February 8th.

After that, it gets interesting thanks to what transpired yesterday afternoon.

For the second time this season, Resurrection and St. Mary's played an Overtime thriller, and again, several key performers were out of the lineup -- Rez's Korbil Gany and St. Mary's Kanayo Nnadi did not suit up on Wednesday.

Still, both teams made big plays including a game-tying three-pointer with :05 left in regulation by St. Mary's guard Minas Abara, and a game-clinching lay-in with :20 left in the extra period by Rez's Muyang Iluya.

This means that entering the final day of the schedule, St. David and St. Mary's are tied with 6-4 records, while Resurrection and Monsignor Doyle enter play at 5-5.  Both of those "sets" of teams are slated to play on February 8th, and it's not inconceivable to see those games going either way given that SDCSS defeated SMHS, and MDCSS beat RCSS the first time around.  

Here would be the final standings given all the possible scenarios.  Each one involves a tiebreak scenario, which I've described with the final standings:

1.  St. Mary's Win + Monsignor Doyle Win
2.  St. Mary's 7-4
3.  St. David 6-5 (H2H over MDCSS)
4.  Monsignor Doyle 6-5
5.  Resurrection 5-6

* - St. David would win the H2H tiebreak over MDCSS based upon a +16 point differential in games this season (MDCSS won by 2, SDCSS by 18).

2.  St. Mary's Win + Resurrection Win
2.  St. Mary's 7-4
3.  Resurrection 6-5 (H2H over SDCSS)
4.  St. David 6-5
5.  Monsignor Doyle 5-6

* - Resurrection would win the H2H tiebreak over SDCSS based upon a +20 point differential in games this season (RCSS won by 37, SDCSS won by 17).

3.  St. David Win + Resurrection Win
2.  St. David 7-4
3.  Resurrection 6-5 (H2H over SMHS)
4.  St. Mary's 6-5
5.  Monsignor Doyle 5-6

* - In this scenario where SDCSS beats SMHS for a second time, RCSS would win a H2H tiebreak over St. Mary's -- they are even in the +/- tiebreak (SMHS win by 3, RCSS win by 3) so the next tiebreak would be H2H record vs. higher ranked teams (RCSS would be 1-3 vs. SBCSS/SDCSS, SMHS would be 0-4).

4.  St. David Win + Monsignor Doyle Win
2.  St. David 7-4
3.  St. Mary's 6-5 (H2H over MDCSS)
4.  Monsignor Doyle 6-5
5.  Resurrection 5-6

* - St. Mary's defeated Monsignor Doyle in both games this season.