By Dylan Butler
“I'll name the top seed the favorite as soon as I know who it is,” said Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary, whose team beat Christ the King last year to win its first B/Q title since 1978. “I don't remember it being as competitive. It's been a lot of fun.”There is such a logjam at the top of the division between Christ the King, Bishop Loughlin and Holy Cross that the seeding for the tournament will likely not be determined until late Friday night, after the final regular-season games are played. Even the site of the first round games, scheduled to be played Monday night, has yet to be decided because league officials prefer the location to be a neutral court. How crazy has it been this year?One game separates the top three teams in the division. “Loughlin beat us twice, we beat Holy Cross twice, Holy Cross beat Loughlin twice,” Christ the King guard Erving Walker said. “Great division. You can't sleep on anybody.”With a win against St. Francis Prep, Christ the King (9-3) will wrap up a first-round bye, although if the Royals end in a first-place tie with Loughlin (8-3), the Lions hold the tie-breaker. If Loughlin splits its remaining two games – the Lions are at Molloy and home for St. Raymond's – and Holy Cross wins its final two regular-season games (at All Hallows and home for Molloy), the Knights will hold the tie-breaker and get the second seed. There's even a possibility of a three-way tie atop the division, although Gilvary doesn't want to think about that. In a season of uncertainty, there is one thing that will definitely happen Monday – Molloy (4-7) and Xaverian (3-8) will play in the 4-5 game. Of course, both teams split its games this year and could end up tied. But they're locked into the match-up and would flip a coin to determine who would wear the home uniforms. St. Francis Prep (0-11) is the No. 6 seed and will likely face either Loughlin or archrival Holy Cross (7-4) in the opening round. The semifinals will be played at St. Francis Prep Feb. 20 and the final will be played Feb. 22, also at St. Francis Prep.”Every game is gonna go down to the wire,” said Christ the King's Ryan Pearson. “That's how we play, that's our style. Hopefully that could work to our advantage.”
