The Redeemer Royals Men's Basketball team is headed back to the OCAA Provincial Championships. By way of a 78-54 defeat of the Centennial Colts on home court Saturday afternoon, the Royals qualified for their 3rd consecutive Championship appearance.

Saturday's match featured the #4 ranked team from the East, against the Royals, the #4 ranked team from the West. After a slow, low-scoring start to the game, Redeemer found themselves down 16-14 with minutes to play in the first. However, an 8-0 run to close out the first 10 minutes, gave the Royals a 22-16 lead, one the home team would never relinquish. Up 6 heading into the 2nd quarter, Redeemer almost doubled their lead before the half. An 11-5 run to finish up the quarter gave the Royals a 38-27 advantage heading into the break. 

The Colts kept within striking range in the 3rd quarter, never letting the lead get out of hand. Centennial trailed by just 9 points with 2 minutes to play in the quarter. Just when it seemed like the Colts might make a push, the Royals responded, book-ending the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th with a 15-0 run. From there, Redeemer cruised to a 78-54 victory and a spot in the Championships. 

After qualifying for their first Provincial Championship in program history during the 2016-2017 season, Redeemer has now advanced to their third Final 8 in a row. The 2016-2017 event finished with the Royals capturing the Consolation Championship, good enough for 5th place overall. Last season, the 19-1 Royals dropped their semifinal match, before finding themselves unable to recuperate for the third place game, finishing in 4th place. The 2018-2019 event kicks off Thursday and the Royals will once again look for their best Championship finish ever. 

The path for the Royals will be tough, however. Redeemer's win on Saturday against the East's #4 Colts, sets the Royals up for a date with the East's #1 team, the Seneca Sting. The Sting are the defending National Champions and enter the tournament as one of the top-ranked teams in Ontario. A week ago, the Sting occupied the Province's #1 ranking.

While their quarterfinal match may be difficult, no one is counting the Royals out. Redeemer has already knocked off two #1 ranked teams this season. In the Fall, the Royals defeated the #1 ranked Sheridan Bruins, while two weeks ago, Redeemer dominated the #1 ranked Humber Hawks. The OCAA West also proved that they are the stronger conference this past weekend as only the Sting made it out of the qualifying crossover matches. The #2 ranked George Brown Huskies and #3 ranked Durham Lords both lost to lower ranked West seeds while the #4 ranked Colts lost to the Royals. 

Thursday's quarterfinal gets underway at 1 pm at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario.

The Championship website is ocaachampionships.com/championships/mbkl/2018-19
All games will be streamed live at youtube.com/GeorgianGrizzlies