Sault Ste. Marie is guaranteed at least two NOSSA basketball championships after four local teams qualified for two championship games.
In the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) AAA championships held here locally, the Bawating Braves and Korah Colts will hook up in the senior final after each team scored opening day wins at the single elimination tournament.
Meanwhile in junior, the St. Mary's Knights, who received a bye straight into the title game, will host the Korah Colts, who defeated Sudbury Lasalle in the semi-final game on Friday.
The junior championship will tip-off at 11 a.m. while the seniors follow at 1 p.m. Both games are at St. Mary's.
The winner of the senior final will earn a trip to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships March 7-9 in Newmarket.
On Friday, Bawating hammered the Sudbury Lockerby Vikings 71-43 as D.J. Wright led the Braves with 23 points while David Fremlin added 22 and Kyle Gauthier poured in 16. Bryan Davidson scored a game high 24 points for Lockerby.
The Korah senior Colts edged the Lasalle Lancers 45-35 as Christian Johnson led the way with 13 points for the winners while Chris Casagrande added 10 points. Chris Henderson scored a game high 15 points for Lasalle.
In junior, the Colts galloped past Lasalle 57-43 as Ben Ginter paced the winners with 14 points while Kyle Cormier and Jordan Lang added 13 points each. Kyle Marquis replied with eight points for the Lancers.
*** NOSSA AA:
At the NOSSA AA championships in North Bay, the city champion St. Mary's Knights opened the tournament on Friday with a 66-39 senior division win over Sudbury LoEllen in a seeding game.
Pat Murray led the Knights with 20 points while Wes Ontonovich added 13 and John Mullin 10.
The Knights will face Blind River's W.C. Eaket at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday with the winner heading into the championship game at 6 p.m.
In the other seeding game on Friday, the host West Ferris Trojans defeated Eaket 56-46. West Ferris will play LoEllen in the other semi-final.
In junior, the St. Basil Saints opened with a 47-34 win over Espanola in a seeding game. Andrew King scored 12 points while David Pozzebon added 10.
The Saints meet LoEllen at 9 a.m. on Saturday in a semi-final game with the winner advancing to the championship game at 4 p.m.
In the other semi-final, West Ferris will meet Espanola after the Trojans trounced LoEllen 65-27 in Friday's other seeding game.