Fourth-seeded College of DuPage will play host to No. 5-seed Black Hawk College on Thursday night in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 4 Division II Midwest District A men's basketball tournament.

Tip off is 7 p.m. at PEC Arena.

Coach Joe Kuhn's team takes a 21-9 overall record into its game against the Braves (16-13). The teams met just once on the season with Black Hawk earning a 77-72 victory on Nov. 14. Ramone Enis and Braylen Meredith each scored 20 points and freshman Payton Moore added nine.

The Braves held a 39-31 halftime lead and COD pulled within a point of the lead with 40 seconds left.

COD rides momentum entering play, having won three straight of four its last five games.

Meredith leads the Chaps in scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.7 points and 6.9 rebounds a contest. He enters postseason on a hot streak, surpassing 1,000 career points in his last game, an 81-68 victory that secured a season sweep over Madison College.

Sophomore guard Greg Strong is the only other Chap to average double figures in scoring at 13.8 ppg. He is the Chaps' top outside shooter, hitting 77 of 234 3-pointers. He has scored 131 3s in his career and needs three more to become COD's all-time leader from the 3-point stripe.

Freshman Charles Farrell averages 9.3 points and fellow freshman Adyn McGinley is right behind at 8.9 points.

COD averages 79.2 points a game and is shooting 45.7 percent from the field.

Five Chaps have totaled at least 25 3s on the year — Strong (77), Ben Zielinski (43), Moore (38), Enis (26) and Meredith (25).

Black Hawk enters play with an eight-game winning streak and unbeaten in February, capped by a 101-83 home victory over Milwaukee Area TC last Saturday.