Every player on the bench, and virtually every yellow-and-blue clad fan was on his feet well before the final buzzer sounded on another first for Ryerson’s men’s basketball team Thursday night.

Jahmal Jones scored 20 points while Adika Peter-McNeilly added 19 as the seventh-seeded Rams upended the No. 2 Windsor Lancers 82-68, clinching their first-ever spot in the Canadian university semifinals.

The victory came on Ryerson’s home court, and in the first time the tournament has been held in Toronto in its 53-year history. It was also the latest step in the remarkable growth of a program that was a basketball laughingstock only a decade ago.

Asked if he was finally breathing a sigh of relief, Rams coach Roy Rana said “You know what, I didn’t really think of it that way because if I did, then I would be putting undue pressure on myself and our kids.

“So it was really about just how do we perform from a possession to possession basis? Now that it’s over, yeah, I’ll smile a little bit, I’ll relax a little bit.”

The Rams will face the No. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees, who survived a huge scare to defeat the No. 6 Bishop’s Gaiters 91-85 in overtime.

The defending champion Carleton Ravens, meanwhile, barely broke a sweat rolling over the Saskatchewan Huskies 90-50 in the day’s opening game.

The Ravens will face Victoria in Saturday’s semifinals after the Vikes edged the Dalhousie Tigers 57-56.

The Rams have been a team on the rise for the better part of the decade, since it went a woeful 1-43 in 2003-04 and 2004-05. They reached the Final 8 in 2012 but dropped a 30-point loss in their opening game en route to finishing sixth.

“It’s just the process we’ve built (over the five years) that I’ve been here,” Jones said.

Jones said there were some early jitters in front of a noisy Mattamy Athletic Centre crowd that included Toronto Raptors’ Greivis Vasquez and Bruno Caboclo. But the Rams shrugged it off to lead 42-31 by halftime, and had stretched that to 65-44 with one quarter to play.

“There’s no pressure on us,” Jones said. “This is my last one, I’m just going to go out there and enjoy it, there’s no pressure on us at all.”

But, he added: “The last thing I want to see is another team hoist the championship trophy on our home floor.”

Carleton, meanwhile, lived up its reputation as the four-time defending national champion.

Brothers Philip and Thomas Scrubb had combined for 42 points by halftime — Saskatchewan, as an entire team, managed just 18.

Philip Scrubb would finish the game with 31 points, shooting 10-for-15 from the field, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range. Older brother Thomas added 18 points.

“I just felt pretty confident in my shot,” Philip said. “I started hitting my shots early. If you’re making them, you keep taking them.

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“That’s not something we’re going to rely on for any game,” he added. “We like to stick to our defensive fundamentals. Obviously, it went well today. But we can’t expect something like that from any guy on any given night.”

The Ravens, who have won 10 of the past 12 CIS titles, raced out to a 28-10 first-quarter lead and were up 48-18 at the half.

Carleton took a 72-39 advantage into a fourth quarter in which neither Scrubb brother played.

“It’s definitely a tough situation to be in,” said Ben Baker, who scored 11 points for the Huskies. “They just have so many ways that they can hurt you. You kind of start to focus in on one area and then they start hurting you in another . . . that’s the way they are built, they are not built on one or two guys, that’s a whole team.

“As soon as you start giving a little leeway in one direction, they kind of burn you the other way.”

Matthew Forbes scored 14 points to lead the Huskies.

Grant Sitton scored 19 points to lead the fourth-seeded Vikes over No. 5 Dalhousie, while Marcus Tibbs added 16. Chris McLaughlin had 10 points and 11 rebounds and knocked down two free throws with six seconds left to clinch the victory.

Victoria coach Craig Beaucamp knows what his Canada West champion Vikes are up against Saturday against Carleton.

“We knew coming in that the Ontario schools were strong,” said Beaucamp. “And we know the strength of Carleton, we’ve played them multiple times.”

The semifinals are Saturday and the medal games are Sunday.