The players on F.H. Collins' Grade 11/12 boys' basketball team had a chance to take control of their own destiny on Tuesday in the Yukon Championships.

All they had to do was avoid losing to the Porter Creek Rams by six or more points.

In front of a robust audience in Porter Creek's gym, F.H. Collins did one better, handing the Rams a lopsided 82-55 defeat.

The 27-point victory punched F.H. Collins' ticket into this year's Yukon Championship final, which will also be played at Porter Creek Secondary School.

The Grade 11/12 girls' teams will kick off the action tonight in a contest between F.H. Collins and Porter Creek at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the boys' squads will feature a tilt between F.H. Collins and the Vanier Crusaders.

That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Tuesday's win against Porter Creek improved F.H. Collins' playoff record to 2-0 and helped prevent a three-way tie between Whitehorse's high schools.

Had the Rams won, a point ratio would have determined the two finalists.

"We lost last week to these guys in the Super Hoops final by two," said Jeff Cressman, the head coach for the F.H. Grade 11/12 boys' squad.

"So for us it was a nice win. A little bit of pay back for that because that's the first time they had beat us all year and now we are in the final against Vanier (tonight), so we will see what happens."

The Rams gave their fans plenty to cheer about in the opening quarter of Tuesday's game, in what looked like it might be a replay of this past week's Super Hoops final.

Porter Creek built up an early 6-4 lead and followed that up with three straight baskets.

With just over five minutes remaining in the quarter and the score 12-4, Cressman called a time-out.

The short break seemed to settle his players down a bit, who followed that up with a basket to cut the lead in half.

After both teams traded a pair of points, the Rams increased their lead to 17-10; however, F.H. Collins closed the gap before the end of first 10 minutes.

The Warriors scored six straight points to bring the contest within a single point.

Four of the team's final six were put in by F.H. Collins point-guard Tony Nguyen.

Players on the Warriors carried over their strong play into the second quarter and didn't look back.

With the game even at 20 apiece, F.H. Collins went on an 11-4 run and by the half, enjoyed a 16-point lead.

Porter Creek had no solution for shutting down F.H.'s offensive attack in the third quarter.

The Warriors kept the pressure on and by the end of the third quarter, had built-up a 67-43 lead.

Nguyen, who finished the game with more than 30 points, was given a rest in the fourth quarter, leaving the game at around the five-minute mark.

Despite his absence, the Warriors still managed to outscore Porter Creek by three points in the quarter.

Logan Wedge, Porter Creek's Grade 11/12 boys' coach, said his team turned the ball over too much on Tuesday.

"They (F.H. Collins) played well, but we also made a lot of mistakes that kind of hurt us," he said "They are too good of a team, you can't beat F.H. and turn the ball over 30 times and that's what we did."

He said his team's main strategy was to play the same as they did in the Super Hoops final.

"The big strategy was almost to do everything as we did last week," Wedge said.

"We played the same defence as last week, we had the same starters, we had the same offensive formations and it took us everything we could to beat those guys last week. We played almost a perfect game and today it just didn't happen."

With three Grade 10 and five Grade 11 students on the team, Wedge said Porter Creek's basketball program is looking good.

"The good thing is we have a lot of young guys coming up," he said. "The future looks bright."

Cressman said he likes how his team is playing heading into the final.

"If we play like the way we did tonight we should do well," he said.

"Vanier has some good players over there, so there's always a chance they could beat us, but if we play the way we can we should win the game."

He said Nguyen played well on Tuesday.

"Tonight could have been his last game as a high school player if we lost," Cressman said.

"He stepped up and decided they weren't going to beat us, I think. The other guys were getting him the ball and boxing out. It was a team effort to get the ball to him and you can't win all by yourself."

Nguyen, 18, said losing to Porter Creek in the Super Hoops final provided plenty of motivation for Tuesday's game.

"I have been working pretty hard throughout the year, so I didn't want to end it on a loss like that, especially losing to them in Super Hoops," he said. "That feeling really sticks with me and I didn't want to feel that again."

He said anything less than winning the championship would be a disappointment.

Nguyen has won the Yukon Championship for basketball every year, with the exception of Grade 10.

He said Vanier has a bigger team than F.H. Collins and out-rebounding them will be the key to winning tonight.

"They have some big guys," Nguyen said. "A pretty simple strategy is to get rebounds and I think we will win the game."