Postseason success is nothing new for the Porters Chapel Eagles.

Each of the last two seasons, PCA has pieced together a Cinderella run through the district tournament and advanced to the North State tournament each time. Last year, the Eagles even made it to the Academy-A State Tournament and won a game there for the first time in school history.

Those runs were largley unexpected, though. Those teams got hot at the right time and ran into good matchups. This year, this PCA team has the added weight of expectation.

The Eagles enter this week’s District 4-A as the No. 2 seed, behind state power CM&I. PCA will also host the tournament, giving it a distinct homecourt advantage.

The Eagles (14-7, 8-4 in district play) will open on Tuesday night at 8:30 against No. 7 seed Rebul. Admission is $5.

&#8220If we just come in and play our game, it’s not anything out of reach to be playing in the championship game,” PCA point guard Blake Purvis said. &#8220The main thing is if we come out and play like we did at the beginning of the year, minimize our turnovers, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be playing for it all.”

PCA’s success this season has been the result of solid play before January and the emergence of several younger players after.

Senior forward Dan Ivey was lost to a broken foot just before the new year. The Eagles lost four straight as they adjusted to playing without him. In his absence, though, sophomores Jermaine O’Connor and Matt Hall have ably filled the void.

O’Connor is averaging about 10 points and eight rebounds since stepping into the starting lineup, while Matt Hall has provided valuable minutes off the bench.

&#8220It’s given us depth at the post position that we didn’t know we were going to have,” DeLaughter said.

Since ending the losing streak against Tri-County, PCA has ripped off four straight wins and may be the hottest team heading into the tournament.

Of course, they’ll still have to get by their nemesis, CM&I. PCA has never beaten the Crusaders, and has lost to them twice this season. Last year, CM&I beat PCA four times – including once each in the district tournament and North State tournament.

That doesn’t mean the Eagles wouldn’t like another crack at them, though.

&#8220We’ve taken steps to play with those guys for four quarters. They’re a good basketball team, and for us to play with them we have to play four quarters,” DeLaughter said. &#8220If we do meet up with CM&I, we expect to give them everything they want.”

Sharkey-Issaquena Academy will tip things off on Tuesday against Mt. Salus.

On the girls side, Rebul will play CM&I in the first game on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. PCA will follow against Veritas at 6:30 p.m..

SIA and Campus Prep will be in action on Wednesday afternoon.