CLINTON – The Norwich Hurricanes’ 17U AAU basketball team advanced to the semifinals in this past weekend’s tournament at Hamilton College, finishing with a 3-2 record over the two days.

The Hurricanes opened play Saturday morning against Oswego High School, just the third time they have played a team composed of players that are all from the same high school. Seven first-half three-pointers gave the Hurricanes a comfortable 38-18 halftime advantage, and they cruised to a 66-49 victory.

Jonathan Foulds and Josh Borfitz, who evenly split a half-dozen first-half trifectas, topped the scoring charts with 16 and 13 points respectively, Casey Edwards and Seth Thomsen had 10 each, and Richie Bonney added nine.

Players from the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool high schools, large AA schools like Oswego, made up the Northmen squad, the Hurricanes’ next opponent, and the Northmen used strong perimeter play to take a 28-23 lead at the midway point.

The game remained close throughout the second half as the Hurricanes trailed 44-43, when “Big Shot Josh” Borfitz nailed a three from the corner to put his team ahead 46-44 with 19 seconds left.

A Northmen free throw got them within 46-45 with nine seconds left, but heady play from Hurricanes point guard Derek Hughes allowed his team to run out the clock and escape with the victory.

Borfitz scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead all scorers, Foulds had a dozen, and Bonney 10 as the trio accounted for all but two of the Hurricanes’ points.