Notes, observations and other thoughts about basketball played at 38th and Central...
The Morton College men's basketball team has resembled the Chicago Bears in mounting unreal comebacks. Unlike the "Monsters of the Midway," the Panthers haven't been able to finish the job the past two Skyway Conference contests against Waubonsee and Moraine Valley.

The Panthers rallied from 14 down in the second half at Waubonsee January 15th before falling 76-71. Against Moraine Valley, the Panthers rallied from a 15-point deficit in a contest that featured 8 ties and 11 lead changes. However, Moraine Valley maintained its grip on the Skyway with an 87-81 win.

The upside
Morton College held Waubonsee to 24 points under its 100.3 average.
Kevin Cathey Jr.'s 8 assists against Waubonsee tied his career high, accomplished twice last season against Oakton and McHenry. The sophomore guard has had 15 assists in his last two games.
Zion Young (12 points, 11 assists) and Javerion Banks (14 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles against Waubonsee.
Jyson Kim provided a nice lift off the bench vs. Moraine Valley with 13 points and 3 assists. He also had 3 three-pointers. Kim's three-point play with 1:21 left gave Morton College an 81-80 lead, which was the final time the Panthers were on top.
Morton College's 7 turnovers vs. Moraine Valley marked the second fewest made in a game this season.
Morton College's 22 assists vs. Moraine Valley also were the second-most this season.
Jordan Brooks is two three-pointers away from 100 in his career.

The downside
Morton College's 14-game home court win streak ended in the Moraine Valley loss. It also marked the first time that the Panthers lost back-to-back Skyway games since 2023.

What needs to happen
The defending Skyway champion Panthers fell to 3-2 in league play. They're chasing Skyway leader Moraine Valley (5-0) and Waubonsee (4-1). Morton College gets one more crack at both teams. In addition, the Panthers will need to take care of business against the rest of the Skyway in their final nine league games.

The last two seasons, 12 wins has gotten the job done. The last time a Skyway champ was crowned with a single-figure win total was in 2014 when the Panthers, Oakton and Prairie State produced a three-way tie at 9-5.

The Panthers also were the last team to run the table in Skyway play as the 2010 and 2011 editions post back-to-back 14-0 seasons.

Taking notice
In the ultra-competitive world of Region 4 men's basketball, Morton College received votes for a third straight time in the NJCAA Division II national poll.

It's helped the Panthers have wins over No. 6 South Suburban, No. 8 Milwaukee Area Tech and No. 25 Bryant & Stratton. No. 13 Madison isn't on the Panther docket this season.

The only other region with more top 25 teams is the Iowa-based Region 11 with five, three of which are in the top 10 – No. 2 Des Moines Area, No. 4 Ellsworth and No. 10 Iowa Central.

Women's basketball
Catrina Sanders produced her fifth 20-point game of the season with 21 in a 111-45 loss to Skyway leader Moraine Valley January 20th at home. She also had 8 rebounds and 4 assists. The freshman guard is 13th in Region 4 with 69 assists and 20th with 257 points.
Sanders also got to the free-throw line 10 times, marking the third time she's done that this campaign.

Niema Adams finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds. It was her seventh straight game in double-figure scoring as Adams became the second Panthers to score 200 points this season. 

She's also doing a good job getting to the free-throw line as Adams' 134 attempts stand as third most in Region 4.

Cecily Marroquin got the Panthers off to a good start with the game's first basket against Moraine Valley. She ended up with 8 points.