Week in review

The playoffs started this week and with many of the lower-seeded squads having play-in games Monday,so many of the area's top teams didn't get playoff basketball underway until Tuesday.

Tuesday was full of action beginning with Downers South narrowly escaping Glenbard North. Also escaping with a win was Glenbard East, who edged out Naperville Central. Shepard gave Thornton a run for its money, but the Wildcats prevailed.

In one of the bigger upsets of the night, Schaumburg topped Evanston. Another surprise included Corliss defeating Rich South.

Wednesday marked the second half of regional semifinals. Waukegan slipped past Prospect at the Mundelein Regional. Curtis Harrington knocked down a three-pointer as time expired to give Plainfield Central a one-point win over Thornwood.

New Trier edged out Foreman at the Evanston regional. King ended Kentucky-bound forward Anthony Davis' high school career with a victory over Perspectives-MSA. St. Joseph advanced after a triple-overtime thriller against Raby.

On Friday it was announced that Wayne Blackshear is the Sun-Times Player of the Year, with him and 19 others making up the All-area team.

Friday night regional title games were highlighted by top-ranked Benet needing two overtimes to top Naperville North. Despite Nnanna Egwu's big game Young defeated St. Ignatius at the Young regional. Just a month ago, Proviso East destroyed rival West by 25, but the Panthers got revenge Friday, ending East's season at the Leyden Regional.

Ryan Boatright scored 32 points to lift East Aurora past Neuqua Valley in overtime. Crete-Monee fended off a pesky Bloom comeback attempt, downing the Blazing Trojans. Thanks to strong bench play Notre Dame took down St. Patrick in a low-scoring regional final at Conant.

And in 2A sectional finals action, Hales cruised to a win over Seton at Herscher.

To see where your team sits in the playoffs, check out the Class 3A/4A playoff brackets.

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