And it wasn’t that close. How could it be on a happy, raucous Pink Night? How could it be when a Potter, Izzy Hutchinson, in a glowing pink uniform, #20, sprinted into the stands and handed a flower to Ken Getz, a cancer survivor, a war veteran, 93 years old next week?

How could it be close when the Potterdome quivered under a roaring full house of a thousand fans, that pep band bouncing brass notes off the rafters, the school’s dance squad beauties showing the varsity basketball clods how it’s done?

How could it be close when the Potters arranged for the number 600 in golden balloons and drew up a homemade billboard declaring that Bob Becker is not done yet: “600 and Still Counting”?

How could it be close when the Potters played their best basketball of the season at the right time to play their best basketball?

Not to go old-timer on y’all, but grizzled Potterdomers might tell you this was the kind of thing Morton did with Brandi Bisping, Tenley Dowell, and Katie Krupa in the golden days of yore when Bob Becker was a fresh-faced kid working his way from #400 to #500.

I mean, the poor Dunlaps. They chose a bad night to come to the Pumpkin Capital of the World. They are a decent team, now 15-11 overall, 7-5 in the Mid-Illini. A month ago they almost beat the Potters. Even in defeat, they embarrassed the winners, rallying at the end to lose by six, 57-51.

Tonight, painful memory again shown to be a motivating thing, the Potters did the embarrassing. This one was 14-3 in five minutes, 29-10 at halftime, and 47-16 soon after.

They did it defensively, first with another of Becker’s gimmick defenses (a box-and-1 disappeared Dunlap’s best scorer) and then with a man-to-man as relentlessly pestiferous as it was mobile.

Offensively, they scored from everywhere in every way. They opened that early 14-3 run with Ellie VanMeenen’s 3-pointer and closed it with the freshman Paige Selke doing a veteran thing, curling in a layup with her off hand. The later move was delivered with an old-time Potters’ merciless third quarter stomp-on-their-throat gusto. From 36-14, an 11-2 run went like this:

An Abby VanMeenen 3-pointer . . . a Selke layup off a nifty Abby V pass . . . Addy Engel’s put-back of her own miss . . . four straight free throws by the suddenly veteran rookies Abby V and Selke . . .then Selke, to earn a layup, bodied-up so strongly against a defender it was possible to imagine she muttered, “Outta my way, if you please.” . . . Abby V, the team’s 6-foot pivot, made another 3-pointer (her third of the night, the first from the top of the key, the next from the right side, this one from the left corner) . . . and Katie Brock’s mid-range jumper put an exclamation point on the paragraph!

Let us count the ways Morton has improved in a month. First, give a listen to Selke, who said, “We’ve bonded as a team since that Washington game.”

That game was an embarrassment, a 45-34 loss over there.

Now, listen to Abby V . . .

“Since Washington, we’ve had a different attitude.”

She translated that different attitude into these parts . .

“Rebounding. Defense. Executing plays. Connecting more. Three-pointers.”

Pretty much everything, eh?

“Yes, sir.”

Since Washington, they’re on a seven-game winning streak. They’ve won 18 of their last 20. They’re 22-5 overall, 12-1 in the Mid-Illini with a chance to tie Washington for the league championship next Tuesday in the Potterdome. Washington is on a 10-game winning streak. (Oops. After I wrote this, I learned that Canton, on Senior Night, ended Washington's streak, 58-51. That means Morton can the M-I outright with a victory Tuesday.)

“Tonight we showed a lot of what we are,” the Potters' coach, Becker, said. “We’re moving in the right direction, on the right trajectory. The kids are motivated, and we’ve got a chance to do something.”

That something means a run in the post-season. In Becker’s 25 seasons, his teams have done it many times. They’ve won four state championships. They’ve been in the finals at Redbird Arena four other times, second once, third once, fourth twice. They begin regional play at Galesburg on Feb. 12 against the East Peoria-Limestone winner. Stay tuned.

Abby V led Morton’s scoring with 15. Paige Selke had 13, Addy Engel 10, Elle V 7, Payton Hays 5, Abby Brooks 5, Izzy Hutchinson 2, Katie Brock 2.