St. Aloysius has gotten some great games from its big men inside. Other nights, it’s been the play of guards Sean Johnson and Ford Biedenharn that has carried them.

Division 7-1A

At Sebastopol

Monday

5:30 p.m. – St. Aloysius vs. Puckett (B)

7 p.m. – St. Al vs. Pisgah (G)

The tough part has been putting both of those together.

The Flashes head into the Division 7-1A tournament as something of a wild card. All of the pieces — good rebounding, strong inside scoring, good outside shooting and energetic guard play — are there for a solid run. St. Al (12-15) faces Puckett in the first round today at 5:30.

If the same inconsistency that has plagued them over the course of the season rears its head again, however, it could also lead to a first-round flameout. Most of the teams in the division are also similar enough, and bunched together enough, that trying to figure out St. Al’s prospects is a convoluted undertaking, to say the least.

“We play good, we can probably get to the championship. We’re all pretty close if we play good,” said Biedenharn, a sophomore point guard. “We know if we play good, we can play with the best teams in the district.”

Biedenharn is one of the big reasons St. Al is looking for more than just a cameo appearance in the postseason. He has scored in double figures in each of his last two games, including a career-high 20 in a win over Pisgah on Thursday. He also had five steals and hit three 3-pointers in that 54-47 victory.

Together with shooting guard Sean Johnson — also averaging 10 points per game in his last two outings — they’ve given the Flashes a dangerous outside game to go with the strong inside presence of Alex Lanier and Chris Lewis.

“Our guard play has been good. That’s helped us win some basketball games. When your guard play is good, it opens up your inside game,” St. Al coach Gary Miller said. “They’ve got to keep doing that if we’re going to get out of our division.”

St. Al’s girls’ team may need to do a lot more. Its first-round opponent is Pisgah, a team that beat the Lady Flashes by 50 points on Thursday. St. Al (6-21) never led in that game, and barely even held the line against the faster, bigger Lady Dragons (14-7).

St. Al senior forward Katie Koestler was hoping a do-over would lead to better things tonight.

“In the tournament, everybody comes in the same. If somebody’s off and we’re on, it’s better for us. Anything can happen in the tournament,” Koestler said.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.