RJ Kennedy picked the perfect time to post his career high in points Monday night.

The Morris junior was hot all night, delivering 28 points to go with a game-high eight rebounds and lead his team to a 52-41 win over Sterling in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A Geneseo Regional. The contest was a play-in game between the bottom two seeds of the regional, and Morris, the host and No. 8 seed, will travel to Geneseo to take on top-seeded Kankakee on Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

Sterling (6-25) opened with a flourish as Xavian Prather hit two straight 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 25 points, and teammate DeAndre Maas hit another as the Golden Warriors jumped out to a 9-0 lead with 4:33 left to play in the first quarter.

Kennedy got Morris (11-20) on the board with a three-point play, but it was the Morris defense that took center stage. From the 4:33 mark of the first quarter until halftime, Sterling was held to just eight points.

“Even though we got down early, we kept with the game plan,” Kennedy said. “I am so proud of all my teammates. We played really good defense and got some offense off of that, and they did a good job of feeding me the ball when I was hot.

“Now. we get a chance to play the top seed and see what we can do against them. We’re excited for it. We get our shot.”

Early in the second quarter, Sterling opened up a 14-8 lead before Kennedy asserted himself. He scored on a putback basket, hit a 3-pointer and then made a pair of free throws with 3:27 left until halftime to put his team ahead for good at 15-14.

Morris continued its run with a drive down the lane by Landon Norris (nine points) for a basket before Kennedy scored and was fouled on a fast break, making the free throw for a 20-14 lead. Sterling snapped the scoring run with a banked-in 3-pointer by Gavin Terrock, but Morris closed the scoring for the half with a nifty reverse layup by Brady Armstrong off an assist by Norris to send his team into halftime with a 22-17 lead.

The Morris defense remained stingy in the third quarter, once again limiting Sterling to just eight points. Meanwhile, Kennedy scored 11 points, including another 3-pointer, in the quarter to help his team to a 39-25 lead entering the fourth.

“They had a little more energy than we had at the start,” Morris coach Joe Blumberg said. “But our defense got us back in the game. Only allowing eight points in the final 12 minutes of the first half was a big turning point.

“RJ was huge for us, and he took some pressure off of our perimeter players, who did a good job of feeding RJ the ball. Our team defense, our help and defensive rotations were very solid. That basket by Brady Armstrong was a big lift for us when we were in some foul trouble.”

Sterling got a free throw from Jack Saathoff to start the third quarter and pull to within 22-18, but that was as close as the Warriors got the rest of the way. Kennedy scored six straight points before teammate Caden Medler turned a steal into a layup and Kennedy drained another 3-pointer for a 33-18 lead. Norris followed with a putback basket to increase the edge to 35-18.

Sterling’s Brady Berlin (six points) hit a 3-pointer and Saathoff added another free throw to make it 35-22. Kennedy and Luis Loza (nine points) each hit a pair of free throws for Morris before Berlin ended the quarter with a 3-pointer and Morris took a 39-25 lead into the fourth.

After a basket by Kennedy opened the fourth, Prather scored eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to make it 41-33. Morris scored the next seven points as Loza and Norris each had a fast-break layup. Prather scored the final eight points for Sterling, while Morris got a free throw from Norris, two from Loza and one by Adam Guilinger to close it out.

“We just couldn’t buy a basket in the second or third quarters,” Sterling coach Ryan Vasquez said. “Things didn’t go our way and we got behind, but our guys continued to play extremely hard. Give credit to Morris. They made more shots than we did.

“Xavian Prather had a heck of a game. It has been a pleasure to watch his growth during his senior year. All of our guys practiced hard and battled hard all year.”