Two teams from Kingston are the top seeds for the Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association senior double-A basketball championship tournament, a two-day event that begins Thursday in Brockville.
Frontenac Falcons, the Kingston area champions, are the No. 1 seed at the six-team event that will be held at Thousand Islands Secondary School. Kingston Collegiate Blues, who were beaten by Frontenac in the semifinals of the local league, are the No. 2 seed.
The teams are divided into two three-team pools and will play a round robin within their pool on Thursday. The top two teams will cross over for semifinals Friday, leading to a bronze medal game at 1 p.m. and a championship game at 3 o’clock.
Since EOSSAA has two berths in the provincial championship next month, both of Friday’s finalists will be going to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA tournament in Timmins.
Frontenac will open Thursday morning at 10 o’clock against Smiths Falls, the third-seeded team. The Falcons will then play Fellowes of Pembroke at 4 p.m.
KC will play No. 4 Holy Trinity at 11:30 a.m., and close Thursday’s schedule with a game against the host, Thousand Islands, at 5:30.
Play will resume Friday morning at 10.
Meanwhile, at Brockville Collegiate, the Queen Elizabeth Raiders will be seeking EOSSAA’s berth in the single-A OFSAA championship. The Raiders, seventh during the regular year in town, are the third-seeded team at the single-A tournament, which is also a six-team affair.
QE opens the event Thursday morning at 10 o’clock against top-seeded Brockville Collegiate, and the Raiders will face St. Francis Xavier, the Prescott-Russell representative, at 1 p.m.
The tournament follows the same format as the double-A competition, with the top four teams from Thursday’s pool play entering semifinals Friday morning, leading to bronze medal and championship games Friday afternoon, at 1:30 and 3 p.m., respectively. The prize is a berth in the single-A OFSAA championship tournament next month in Sault Ste. Marie.
The other pool comprises No. 2 St. Lawrence of Cornwall, No. 4 Perth and No. 5 Mackenzie of Deep River.
As the top AAA school in KASSAA, the only association in eastern Ontario with triple-A schools, the Holy Cross Crusaders had automatic entry into that OFSAA championship, which is being contested this year in Windsor.