It’s regroup time for ’Saders

   
    Brother Martin was riding a wave of 20 wins in 22 games before it hit the wall against District 9-5A rivals West Jefferson and Jesuit by losing back-to-back games last week.
    Although the Crusaders did not drop from their No. 3 ranking in the Class 5A Top 10 poll, they fell two games behind Jesuit, which entered the week on a seven-game roll and a 5-0 sweep of the first round of district play.
    The Blue Jays stopped Martin’s push-the-ball philosophy to prevail, 60-57, before a packed Conlin gym on Jan. 25 by goading the Crusaders into taking low-percentage long jumpers and making them pay the price of a miss by covering the goals for the rebounds.
    Now Martin faces an uphill battle to get back into title contention. It has three of its final games at home, but will have to play Archbishop Rummel (14-9) and Jesuit (13-7) on the road.
    The Crusaders and Blue Jays have enough power points to host first-round games, while Rummel will open the playoffs in two weeks on the road.
    If it wasn’t for East Jefferson being in the district, St. Augustine (16-8) would be coasting in District 10-4A. But the Purple Knights trail the Warriors by one game, which they can make up by winning at EJ on Feb. 5.
    St. Augustine is currently the  No. 9 playoff seed in Class 4A.
    Holy Cross (13-11) crashed when district play opened. The Tigers will make the playoffs, but as a road team.
    De La Salle and Archbishop Hannan should also be playoff contenders but will open on the road against high seeds.
    Losses to Lake Area (52-49, on a 3-pointer at the buzzer) and to Landry (48-45) deprived the Cavaliers of the district lead.
    Both De La Salle and Hannan are currently in the No. 29 spot in their respective classes.
    Although seven schools should qualify, the playoff picture appears bleak for the girls’ Catholic school teams.
    District 9-5A leader Mount Carmel (16-9, 6-0 at the start of the week) is seeded No. 16, while second-place Dominican (18-6, 4-2) is the No. 15 seed this week.
    Both will host first-round games but will have to face the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the second round on the road.
    Although neither Cabrini nor Ursuline will win its district title, they are both playoff bound. But for No. 19 Ursuline (11-10, 4-2) and No. 22 Cabrini (16-10, 5-1), the road also calls in the first playoff round.
    De La Salle (15-8, 6-0) is unbeaten in District 10-3A play, but the Lady Cavs sit in the No. 25 spot. Meanwhile, district rival St. Mary’s (11-8) is one game behind them at 7-1    and holds the position of the precarious final host spot of No. 16.
    Xavier Prep (12-13), is on the playoff bubble in the final spot at No. 32 and needs to win at least three of its remaining games to assure a playoff berth.