The BCI Red Rams have accomplished the first step in their goal.

The Red Rams have made it into the semifinals of the EOSSAA 'AA' senior boys basketball championships here.

While the Red Rams dropped a 48-37 decision to the Smiths Falls Red Hawks, BCI rolled over Rockland 80-43 in its other pool division game.

The Red Rams are playing home team Loyalist Lancers this morning with the winning team guaranteed a spot in the provincial championships.

"It's going to come down to one game for a shot at the provincials. Hopefully, we can get there," said BCI coach Tom Curson.

In a physical game against Smiths Falls, BCI jumped off to a 14-2 lead but trailed 27-26 at halftime.

Alec MacNeil led BCI with 17 points. Brandon Judd had 17 for Smiths Falls.

Against Rockland, BCI led 42-16 at halftime.

MacNeil dominated with 27 points while Graham Silk added another 24 while Rhys Larry hit for 13.

If BCI wins its semifinal, it plays in the championship game at 3 p.m.

A loss in the semifinal would put the Red Rams in the consolation game at 1:30 p.m.

Smiths Falls was in the other semifinal game before the Brockville-Loyalist matchup today.

SMITHS FALLS - The Smiths Falls senior RedHawks were on fire last week, winning the Eastern Ontario AA boys’ basketball championship title.

“We don’t look like much, but the guys played tough defense and played well together,” says coach Todd Spencer. “They have the heart to play basketball.”

The boys travelled to Kingston on Feb. 18 and 19 to compete in EOSSAA, after their nail-biting win 29-26 win against the Perth & District Collegiate Institute Blue Devils for the Lanark County Interschool Athletic Association (LCIAA) title.

At EOSSAA, the RedHawks first played Brockville Collegiate Institute, and won a tough game, 48-37. From there, they blazed through the next three games against L’Escale (69-39), the Renfrew Raiders (57-33) and the Loyalist Lancers (50-40).

Spencer says the BCI and Loyalist teams were tough, but that the win against L’Escale was “nice.”

“They weren’t very strong, it was a perfect second game,” he says. “We fought through the game and everyone played well.”

On Friday, when the crew played against the Raiders, Spencer admits he was anxious.

“When we beat Renfrew, we knew we would qualify for the finals,” he says. “But I was concerned we wouldn’t have the fire to compete, but that wasn’t the case.”

Vince Dufort led the team during the title game against Loyalist, scoring a total of 17 points.

Spencer says captains Sean McEwen and Dufort did a good job leading the team to victory.

“They just don’t let us lose,” he says. “And everything else falls into place.”

During the entire two-day competition, Brendan Judd scored 44 points, Dufort netted 43, Steve Summers scored 36 and Curtis Onion had 33.

Spencer says Summers really stepped up when the team needed him and that Onion was the leading scorer for the tourney.

The team will be holding a bottle drive Saturday morning (Feb. 6) to raise money for the bus to the all-Ontario (OFSAA) championships.

The boys leave Sunday and will return Wednesday of next week.

OFSAA takes place in Windsor; to follow the boys on their adventure, check out http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/site/index.cfm for live streaming and coverage of the games.

SMITHS FALLS - The Smiths Falls senior RedHawks were on fire last week, winning the Eastern Ontario AA boys’ basketball championship title.

“We don’t look like much, but the guys played tough defense and played well together,” says coach Todd Spencer. “They have the heart to play basketball.”

The boys travelled to Kingston on Feb. 18 and 19 to compete in EOSSAA, after their nail-biting win 29-26 win against the Perth & District Collegiate Institute Blue Devils for the Lanark County Interschool Athletic Association (LCIAA) title.

At EOSSAA, the RedHawks first played Brockville Collegiate Institute, and won a tough game, 48-37. From there, they blazed through the next three games against L’Escale (69-39), the Renfrew Raiders (57-33) and the Loyalist Lancers (50-40).

Spencer says the BCI and Loyalist teams were tough, but that the win against L’Escale was “nice.”

“They weren’t very strong, it was a perfect second game,” he says. “We fought through the game and everyone played well.”

On Friday, when the crew played against the Raiders, Spencer admits he was anxious.

“When we beat Renfrew, we knew we would qualify for the finals,” he says. “But I was concerned we wouldn’t have the fire to compete, but that wasn’t the case.”

Vince Dufort led the team during the title game against Loyalist, scoring a total of 17 points.

Spencer says captains Sean McEwen and Dufort did a good job leading the team to victory.

“They just don’t let us lose,” he says. “And everything else falls into place.”

During the entire two-day competition, Brendan Judd scored 44 points, Dufort netted 43, Steve Summers scored 36 and Curtis Onion had 33.

Spencer says Summers really stepped up when the team needed him and that Onion was the leading scorer for the tourney.

The team will be holding a bottle drive Saturday morning (Feb. 6) to raise money for the bus to the all-Ontario (OFSAA) championships.

The boys leave Sunday and will return Wednesday of next week.

OFSAA takes place in Windsor; to follow the boys on their adventure, check out http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/site/index.cfm for live streaming and coverage of the games.

EMC Lifestyle - On February 25 and 26, SFDCI's senior boys basketball team travelled to Kingston to play against Brockville at Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute. Throughout the whole game they were neck and neck. Even though the boys were losing the first half, they came through in the lead 27-26 during half time and continued 38-30 for the third quarter. In the end the boys came up on top winning 48-37.

Vincent Dufort scored a total of five points with three baskets, Steven Summers scored 10 points with four baskets, Brendan Judd scored 15 points with 10 baskets, Curtis Onion scored 12 points with five baskets.

At the beginning Tegan Patmore was hoping that the guys would get their act together and as soon as they did she was cheering them on louder and louder. The pressure was on since there were only five SFDCI students there but even five students were enough to cheer them to victory.

Craig Mearns said, "The guys did a really good job and came out strong."

Great job guys!!