CIF-SS Division 1 Semifinal Preview: St. Bernard vs. St. Anthony

<p>The CIF Southern Section playoffs have provided plenty of excitement and upsets through the first three rounds. As we head into the semifinals on Tuesday, we want to analyze and breakdown each of the "final four" matchups among the divisions. In this piece, we take a look at St. Bernard against St. Anthony.</p> <p><strong>Key Storyline:</strong> This is a matchup of two programs that know each other well. The Del Rey League foes have played twice this season, both resulting in close wins for St. Bernard. In the first meeting, the Vikings took a 50-48 home victory and defeated St. Anthony on the road, 52-48, just a couple of weeks ago. They key factor in this game will be execution down the stretch. Both teams play a more uptempo and free-flowing style, but, as we know, the game always slows down and becomes more physical in the playoffs.</p> <p><strong>Key Matchup:</strong> With so many good players on the floor between the two teams this is a tough one to predict. Keeping with our theme in the key storyline, the point guard position will be crucial in winning this game and that leads us to believe that the battle between <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994964" first="Tyler" last="Rolison"]</strong> (St. Bernard) vs. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="748743" first="Jaayden" last="Bush"]</strong> (St. Anthony) will be a major factor in the outcome of this game. Rolison didn’t have his best game last time out against the Saints and, with his competitive nature, he’s likely chomping at the bit to redeem himself for that performance. Bush makes it all go for St. Anthony from scoring to distributing to guarding the opponents best guard and controlling tempo, the senior must be on his A-game for St. Anthony to advance to the finals.</p> <p><strong>X-Factors:</strong> Though St. Bernard has a ton of big name guys on its roster the likes of Rolison, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="992482" first="Darius" last="Carr"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="748754" first="Jason" last="Hart II"]</strong>, we think the role guys will have to step up and make a difference. Starting forward <strong>Malachi Roach</strong> will need to slow down the production of St. Anthony’s <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="954255" first="Elijah" last="Price"]</strong> and guard <strong>Rayniel Wright</strong> will have his work cut out for him as a secondary ball-handler and perimeter scorer. The Saints x-factor is senior shooting guard <strong>Lucas Gray</strong>. Gray scored a career-high 23 points in a big quarterfinal win over Colony and if he can even come close to that shooting performance against St. Bernard, it make the game much easier on Bush outside and Price inside.</p>