Notes, observations and other thoughts about basketball played at 38th and Central...
Morton College begins the Region 4 District B playoffs with a home quarterfinal contest for the third year in a row with Black Hawk visiting the Henry J. Vais Gymnasium for a 7 p.m. Thursday, February 26th contest.

The Panthers are a No. 3 seed in a rugged Region 4 field that includes four nationally-ranked team with No. 5 Milwaukee Area Tech, No. 10 South Suburban, No. 17 Bryant & Stratton and No. 20 Rock Valley. Regular-season Skyway champ Waubonsee and Madison also are among teams as receiving votes in the final national poll.

Morton College (19-11) has three impressive statement victories in Region 4 play by taking down South Suburban, Milwaukee Area Tech and Bryant & Stratton. A win over Black Hawk would more than likely get a date vs. South Suburban in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 1st, in Rockford.

Thursday's playoff pairings
District A
No. 8 Prairie State at No. 1 Milwaukee Area Tech
No. 5 Elgin at No. 4 Waubonsee
No. 7 McHenry at No. 2 Bryant & Stratton
No. 6 Kishwaukee at No. 3 Moraine Valley

District B
No. 8 Lake County at No. 1 Rock Valley
No. 5 Carl Sandburg at No. 4 Madison
No. 7 DuPage at No. 2 South Suburban
No. 6 Black Hawk at No. 3 Morton College

First things first
The Panthers can't afford to overlook Black Hawk, which is 17-12 and features five players scoring in double figures. Siraaj Ali is Black Hawk's leading scorer at 15.6 points per game, followed by Caedan Terrell (12.1), Dion Doyle (12.0), Kendall Webb (11.9) and Jaylen Blackwell (10.6).

Tying program best
A first-round win over Black Hawk would give the Panthers their third consecutive 20-win season, which would match a program-best previously accomplished by Tony Amarino (1996-1999) and Frank Lollino Jr. (2008-2011).

All-Skyway honors
Sophomore guard Jordan Brooks landed a spot on the five-member all-Skyway Conference First Team. Brooks' backcourt running mate, sophomore Kevin Cathey Jr. earned Second Team honors.

Freshmen Danny Thompson and Zion Young were all-Skyway Honorable Mention.

Good close out
The Panthers finished up by scoring 90-plus points in back-to-back wins over Oakton and Blackhawk Tech. It's the first time the Panthers have done that since November 2022 when Morton College beat the JVs from Elmhurst and Dominican.

Morton College dropped a season-high 60 in the first half of the 94-92 win at Blackhawk Tech February 21st. The Panthers had seven players in double figures, of which three – Danny Thompson (14 points, 13 rebounds), Stan Toderasco (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Cristian Revenco (13 points, 12 rebounds) – turned in double doubles.

Amir Speights scored a career-high 17 points to pace the Panthers. Zion Young and Javerion Banks had 13 points, while Simon Tesfit added 10.