For all of the fun times the Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball teams have shared on the court in the last decade or so, they’ve never faced each other with a Section III championship at stake, largely because they were placed in separate classes once tournament time rolled around. All of that changes next weekend at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, where the Red Rams and Brothers will settle the Section III Class A title at the same facility where they each prevailed in Sunday’s semifinal games. J-D, the no. 4 seed, managed to withstand the assault of Peyton McLaurin and knocked off top seed Carthage 77-70 at SRC Arena. Earlier in the day, at Allyn Hall, a complete team effort pushed the no. 2 seed Brothers past no. 6 seed Whitesboro 58-46. Both of these assignments involved the winners ultimately subduing a star player. J-D’s assigment was particularly daunting because McLaurin was coming off a Class A quarterfinal where he had torched Fulton for 52 points, breaking the single-game school record held by, of all people, lacrosse great Mike Powell. At least in the first half, the Red Rams’ task was accomplished. McLaurin only had nine points, and J-D, getting hot starts from guards James Boeheim and Dom DeRegis, bolted out to a 22-10 lead before McLaurin’s teammates helped Carthage catch up in the second quarter. Still, the Rams led, 40-34, at the half, and opened the third quarter strong, stretching the margin to 50-39 before McLaurin started hitting on a wide variety of shots, everything from drives to the basket to 3-pointers past NBA range on his way to a total of 32 points. McLaurin’s 3-pointer with 6:05 left tied the game, 61-61, but with several chances to pull out in front, the Comets could not do so, while J-D continued to give the ball to its hot hand, Isaiah Williams, who notched 17 of his team-high 23 points in the second half. As the teams went down the stretch, McLaurin tried, by himself, to keep Carthage alive, at times launching wild shots that flew off target. The Rams were more patient, and no shot was bigger than Adrian Autry’s 3-pointer with 1:55 left that made it 70-63. It was Autry’s only field goal all afternoon. A series of free throws clinched it, as Boeheim worked his total to 16 points. DeRegis had 11 points, with Jacob Eich getting nine points as Rahmel Smith got seven points off the bench. Now J-D could focus on trying to accomplish what it didn’t do twice during the regular season – beat CBA, whose own semifinal against Whitesboro centered around trying to contain the Warriors’ dynamic senior guard, T.J. Borza, who passed the 1,000-point mark for his career a couple of weeks ago. No one on the Brothers’ side contained much as Whitesboro sprinted out to a 14-7 lead, capped by Borza’s steal and lay-up, but early in the second quarter, the game turned in CBA’s favor. On the offensive end, the Brothers got hot from the perimeter as Nick Aversa, Charles Pride and Monte Stroman each hit 3-pointers during a 20-6 run that covered less than four minutes and gave the Brothers the lead for good. Defensively, the focus was in the paint, not just to make sure that Borza didn’t finish his drives to the basket, but also that Whitesboro didn’t establish any alternatives to Borza. And that task fell largely on Center Emmett Dunn, whom head coach Buddy Wleklinski said was his best player on the floor. Dunn grabbed 12 rebounds to go with his seven points and made some timely blocks, too, especially in the fourth quarter after the Warriors, with a 13-4 run, whittled CBA’s 15-point lead down to 49-43. Even as his teammates struggled for baskets, Jack Carey carried the attack in the third quarter, getting 10 points in that frame and finishing with 14 to lead a well-balanced attack. Aversa had 13 points, while Stroman had seven points, Pride and Dan Damico six points apiece. Despite netting a game-high 18 points, Borza had to work hard for those baskets, and Whitesboro couldn’t match CBA’s scoring depth. And now it’s CBA against J-D, part of a big sports weekend for both schools as, on Saturday, the girls basketball Red Rams go for a fourth straight sectional title against Whitesboro and the combined CBA/J-D hockey team plays in the state tournament at Onondaga Nation Arena. Less than 24 hours later, many of those same students that will cheer together at Nedrow will go to OCC and cheer just as loud on opposite side in one of the area’s most unique rivalries.