The Sardis secondary senior boys basketball team and its entourage of enthusiastic fans showed plenty of spirit during the school's historic first-ever B.C. Boys AAA Championship last week.

The Falcons lost their final game 72-57 to Enver Creek Saturday, but walked away from the 20-team tournament with an eighth-place finish and the School Spirit Award.

"It was just an amazing experience seeing 200 to 300 Sardis fans in the crowd at the end, driving 45 minutes," said coach Kyle Graves. "It kind of shows that the program's on the rise. Next year's going to be an even more special year with the crowd support and everyone realizing that we have a chance to be a really, really good team."

His team put itself out of championship contention early in this year's tournament, though, with a heartbreaking 73-69 opening-game loss to Burnaby South Wednesday.

The Falcons bounced back to win over Sir Winston Churchill (77-74) Thursday and Claremont (69-63) Friday.

But the team faltered in its final game against Fraser Valley rivals Enver Creek Saturday in a contest for sixth place and had to settle for eighth.

Grade 12 captain Jason Kroeker led the Sardis offence with 15 points in his final game.