As February nears its end, the postseason picture continues to become clearer for the Manhattan High boys basketball team. At the top of the league, the Indians are on the verge of a title.

And though the postseason has not arrived yet — sub-state doesn’t begin until March 3 — head coach Benji George is imploring his team to treat its final two regular season games as if they are playoff scenarios.

His reasoning his sound: after a home loss to Hayden last Friday, the Indians hold a one-game lead in the Centennial League and must win said two games to ensure an outright league title. Otherwise, they risk sharing the championship, or with two losses, losing grasp of a title at all.

First up on the crucial two-game docket is Junction City Tuesday night.

“My message to the team is going to be that when the ball goes up in the air, the playoffs start tomorrow night,” George said. “We have to treat it like it’s a playoff game. If we really want to win league, our playoffs start a week earlier than everybody else’s does.”

The good news for the Indians, though, is that they have seen and defeated Junction City once before this season, a 78-64 road win in December.

But despite what the scoreboard may imply, the win didn’t come easily for Manhattan. The Blue Jays’ T.J. Poole gashed MHS for 30 points, while Ricardo Erans added 18 on four triples — two guards George is most concerned with ahead of Tuesday’s matchup.

“The thing that Poole did against us was he hit three or four threes, which he hasn’t done as consistently this year,” George said. “I think we still have to probably shorten our closeouts on Poole; take away his left hand because he loves to go left. And be tough enough to take a charge.”

The Indians, in line with their tendencies this year, finished both the first and fourth quarters with a bang. They outscored Junction City 24-12 and 28-18, respectively — it was the middle two stanzas that gave the visiting team trouble.

The third quarter saw the Blue Jays trim the deficit to four. Poole canned a three in the waning seconds, and the uproar the gym ascended into predicted a narrow fourth frame.

But Manhattan, as it has for much of its 2015-16 campaign, made quick work of the final stanza and put the game away at the free throw line.

Now it is faced with a rematch with its archrival, a contest made more meaningful with the fact that it will serve as senior night.

Make no mistake: the night will be an emotional one. Manhattan’s seniors have racked up a 33-6 record over the past two seasons, a record that includes just two home losses. The first ended the Indians’ sub-state run a year ago.

Senior forward Grant Munsen said the stage will live up to its hype.

“It’s going to be a huge night, especially for the seniors,” he said. “Junction, at home; it doesn’t get better than that for senior night. So I think we’ll be ready to go.”

George, the second-year head coach who has captained the illustrious duo of seasons, all while cultivating relationships with his team as a whole, concurred.

“I think our underclassmen understand that we need to make sure we honor our seniors with our intensity and our focus and our toughness,” George said. “Because if there’s any group that deserves to go out with a win on senior night, it’s this group.”