The defending senior boys basketball champion Central Cyclones had a fairly simple path back to the city final.

They knocked out Assiniboia last night with a dominating 115-21 score. Central coach Ryan Boughen said the Cyclones have improved greatly since the season started.

“This team’s had a pretty good season. We’ve had some challenges we’re dealing with and injuries,” he said, as provincial team player Dylan Boughen wore a boot to protect his foot and didn’t dress for the game. “We’re stretching our bench a little bit and we’ve got some guys playing in different spots, but we’re working through it.”

Boughen talked about the challenge of playing in a higher intensity city final after such a blowout in the semifinal.

“We’ve talked lots this year about it, it doesn’t matter who we play and when we play them,” he said. “It’s about us playing our best basketball, and us working on doing the things better that we’ve identified that we need to do better from our last game or last tournament.”

Central forward Ewan Johnson is happy to be back in the city final once again.

“It shows all of our hard work has paid off again this year,” Johnson said. “Like the past few years, we’ve practiced hard and played hard games.

Central will play Peacock in the boys final after peacock defeated Vanier 64-57 in the other semi.

Peacock’s boys edged out Vanier 64-57 in the other semifinal.

Devin Baumann scored 26 points to pace the Toilers while Nathan Meili scored 17 to lead the Vikings.