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The Locker Room has regained his senses and can see clearly now:

Zion-Benton 118 (setting the all-time single-game scoring record for a county team. The current mark is 117 held by one of Denny kessel's Mundelein teams in the mid-1990s), and Richards minus-25.

Zion-Benton vs. Richards in IHSA Class 4A state championship game.

Gosh, Richards looked unbeatable Friday night, dismantling Lockport in what could have been a 25-point blowout.

While we love the Bees in The Locker Room, we are worried about this one:

Richards 56, Zion-Benton 45.

Sorry.

Four teams left in the IHSA Class 4a playoffs. Here we go:

Zion-Benton 63, Evanston 52. Evanston plays a zone defense and the deciding factor in the game will be whether or not Z-B guard Rodney Clinkscales and Ronald Steward can shoot well enough to bring the Wildkits out of it.

if they can, the Bees will tear up Evanston in man-to-man matchups near the basket. if they can't ... well, no negative thinking allowed this weekend.

In any case, Steward and Clinkscales haven't had big games in two weeks. Now is the time.

Richards 67, Lockport 43. Don't know much about these teams, but Richards beat Neuqua Valley by 20-plus points on Tuesday night and Neuqua Valley is GOOD. Truth be told, Richards is the one team down here that can give Z-B real trouble. So, root root root for Lockport.

Our area has never had two teams qualify for the IHSA state tournament in the same year. Heck, our area has trouble qualifying ONE team for the state finals each year. Will this be the year we double our fun?

The good news is that even though we have just two teams still alive in the IHSA playoffs,The Locker Room scuttlebutt is is that we'll still have two teams alive at about 10 p.m. Friday.

The home teams being our teams -- Grayslake Central and Highland Park -- both of whom will be in action tonight in the IHSA playdowns. Will either or both be playing again on Friday night?

There’s a reason Zion-Benton and North Chicago were awarded No. 1 seeds in their respective sectional tournaments, and tonight we’ll that reason will become very evident.

Here’s a stat for you: Among the teams winning regional titles in the Class 3A and Class 4A boys basketball tournaments last week were the following:

Truth be told, the eyes in The Locker Room could see Mundelein over Warren and Waukegan over Lake Forest coming. It wasn’t the eyes that failed, it was the heart. Didn’t have the ticker to pick the underdogs. As a result, The Locker Room picks are 9-4 this tourney season with five tough ones to call on Friday night.

OK. Tell the truth. Who in The Locker Room saw Lake Zurich smokin' defending sectional champion Stevenson by 15 points in a regional semfiinal? That game ruined an otherwise perfect night of picks. Tuesday: 7-1 ... 10-2 overall so far this tournament. As for tonight ...