The Bawating Braves have put out an early notice that they intend to compete for another high school basketball boy's senior division championship.
At the pre-season Tip-Off Tournament hosted this past weekend by White Pines, the Braves outlasted the Timmins Blues in the championship game 50-38.
D.J. Wright paced the Braves with 15 points while David Fremlin added 10. Ryan Lecuyer and Kyle Gauthier chipped in eight points each.
Brandon Latourelle led the Blues attack with 10 points.
Bawating advanced with 56-43 win over the Korah Colts in the semi-final while the Blues snuck past the Sir James Dunn Eagles 41-38.
Craig Neilson scored 14 points to lead the Braves in the semi-final win while Christian Johnson replied with 13 for the Colts. Jamie Weldon led the Eagles with 10 points in the other game.
The local teams begin regular season action on Tuesday with three tripleheaders.
St. Basil visits White Pines, St. Mary's travels to Sir James Dunn and Bawating visits Korah.
On Thursday, St. Mary's visits White Pines, Bawating is at St. Basil and Korah travels to Sir James Dunn.
Midget games tip-off at 4:15 p.m. followed by junior action at 6 p.m. and senior play at 7:30 p.m.
*** GIRLS NOSSA PLAYDOWNS:
All Sault teams came away empty handed at the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) girls basketball playdowns over the weekend.
In the AA competition at Elliot Lake, the St. Basil senior Saints dropped a 56-50 decision to the Sudbury Lockerby Vikings in the championship game.
The Vikings completed a AA sweep as the junior squad captured the crown with a 32-27 win over the Korah Colts in the title game.
In AAA competition in Sudbury, the Lasalle Lancers captured the senior championship with a 38-16 win over the Korah Colts.
Sudbury's Lo-Ellen captured the junior title 38-31 over Lasalle.
The St. Mary's Knights fell to Lasalle 37-32 in the junior semi-final.