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FOXBORO - Three league champions up, three league champions down.

And the Foxboro High boys' basketball team will try to make it four tonight (7) when the Warriors take on Patriot League champion Scituate in a Division 3-South Sectional semifinal game to be played at Braintree High School.

If it hasn't already become obvious, the 18th-seeded Warriors haven't exactly been intimidated by playing higher seeds... who just so happen to be league champions... and on the road, nonetheless.

"This is strictly business," said Foxboro coach Bo Ruggiero. "My team doesn't pay any attention to this tournament hoopla. We don't have a dislike of Scituate or anything, we're just going to go into Braintree and take care of business. That's how we've done things so far, and it's worked."

During its impressive tournament run, Foxboro has already dispatched Eastern Athletic Conference champion and 15th-seeded Bishop Connolly (61-44), South Shore League champion and second-seeded Abington (49-48) as well as Catholic Conference co-champion and seventh-seeded Archbishop Williams (74-62). In order to advance to Saturday's Sectional finals (at UMass-Boston), Foxboro will have to take down the tournament's third seed, Patriot League champion Scituate (20-2).

But that will be a tall order.

"They have tremendous depth, that's what strikes me first," said Ruggiero. "They have more people on their varsity roster than we have in three programs. I saw them beat (Tri-Valley League champion) Medway and they used 10 kids in the first half alone. Except for their two big kids, they have a lot of interchangeable parts, a lot of kids that play different positions and just plain hustle."

Apparently, the Sailors come at you in waves, working a full-court press from the opening tip until the final buzzer.

"They'll sub three or four kids at a time and just run you. They just try and wear you down," said Ruggiero. "I was impressed with them earlier in the year when I went and saw them croak Marshfield. They're solid at every position. They have a 6-foot-8 center, another 6-foot-6 kid, a couple of six-foot guards and a 5-9 point guard. They have a nice back-court, and probably their best player comes off the bench (freshman Rodney Beldo)."

But again, don't figure the Warriors to be intimidated, especially when they have some weapons of their own and are fully capable of running.

"Actually I think intimidation goes the other way at this point, especially when you look at who we've beaten so far," added Ruggiero. "In this run here, over the last six years, I haven't had too many coaches outside of the league calling me, looking to put Foxboro on their schedule. I think we're capable of playing with anyone."

The Warriors can play with anyone, play any style, play from behind or ahead - they have trailed two of their three tournament games at the half and actually trailed Archbishop Williams 13-0 to start the game before coming back.

"We run, we press," stated Ruggiero. "We're not going to change our style. We'll stay aggressive, basketball aggressive. We'll do whatever it takes to win the game."

The Warriors won't want to change anything, considering the success they've had the last week-plus, on both sides of the ball. They have four players averaging in double figures scoring - Ed Bernstein averaging 16 per game while Drew Connolly, Matt Goode and Stephon Neville have averaged 12 apiece. But Foxboro hasn't been just a four-man team, in fact the team has gotten solid contributions from sophomore point guard Jake Lisowski as well as some players off the bench, namely Kevin McCarthy and Ali Mourtada.

"We don't have quite the same depth, obviously, but the kids we get in there I have confidence in," said Ruggiero, who added that he wasn't surprised with his team's late-season success.

We might only have 15 wins (15-10) right now, but four of our losses were last-possession losses that just as easily could have been wins, meaning we'd have a better record and a higher seed - a tip-in to Sharon at the buzzer, last-possession losses to Franklin and OA and a one-point loss to Boston Latin, a team that is also in the (Division 2-North Sectional) semifinals," added Ruggiero. "We don't have a great seed or a gaudy record, but we'll be ready to rock and roll."