Sauk Valley boys basketball IHSA postseason storylines

As the boys basketball postseason tips off this week, here are few of the storylines to watch in the Sauk Valley area.

Rock Falls seeded second at Class 2A Bureau Valley Regional: Before finishing the regular season with a 60-56 overtime setback to Eastland, ranked fifth in the Associated Press Class 1A poll, the Rockets had won 10 of their previous 11 games.

Kuitim Heald and Ryken Howard have provided a one-two scoring punch for Rock Falls, which also has size off the bench.

The Rockets last won a regional title in 2023 and play their first game Wednesday in the Bureau Valley Regional semifinals.

Dixon seeded third at Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional: The Dukes hope to have senior and all-time leading scorer Darius Harrington back for the postseason after he left the Byron game Feb. 7 with an injury. Dixon, seeded thirdl, has gone 1-4 since his injury and opens the postseason against fifth-seeded La Salle-Peru at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Harrington scored a career-high 46 points earlier this season. His return would provide a major boost for a Dixon team which last won a regional title in 2019.

Sterling seeded fourth at Class 3A Morris Regional: The Golden Warriors have battled through some tough stretches on the schedule while competing in the rugged Western Big 6 Conference this season.

But two record-setting players to watch for Sterling have been seniors Nico Battaglia and Kaedon Phillips.

Battaglia set Sterling’s single-season record for 3-pointers made with 97 on Feb. 18 and also hit a school-record 10 3-pointers against Alleman this season.

He led the Big 6 with 48 3-pointers in conference play and averaged 14.9 points.

Phillips, the team’s leading scorer, also set the program record for made free throws at 154. Phillips nearly led the Big 6 in scoring in league play, averaging 18.3 points in 14 games, behind only Moline’s Braden Freeman (18.6 ppg).

Maddux Osborn tied Freeman with 6.4 rebounds per game in Big 6 play.

Sterling plays sixth-seeded Morris at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. It last won a regional title in 2023 after falling to La Salle-Peru in last year’s regional final.

Locals galore at Class 1A Pecatonica Sectional: Of the 32 teams in the bracket, nine are from the Sauk Valley area. Most notably, Eastland received a No. 1 seed. The other No. 1 seed, Pecatonica (29-2), has been at or near the top of 1A all season and has beaten the Cougars (27-4) twice this season.

Pecatonica also beat Eastland 60-50 in last year’s sectional final.

Eastland has been led by a reliable trio of scorers in Adam Awender, Peyton Spears and Parker Krogman. All three have scored 1,000 points in their careers.

Since the calendar flipped to 2025, Eastland has only lost to Pecatonica and Goreville (28-3).

Eastland’s last sectional title came in 2014, a year after the Cougars took fourth at state under coach Tony Dunlap.