With three games remaining in the regular season, the Metro League playoff race is heating up.

The five-day Metro playoffs – beginning Feb. 16 – will determine the eight teams that will advance to the SeaKing District tournament.

The Metro’s 13 teams will be ranked on a point system based on their number of league wins. Teams in the Sound and Valley Divisions will earn one point for each league win, while schools in the five-team Mountain Division – which play 16 games instead of 15 – will multiply their Metro wins by .9375.

The top 10 teams will make the playoffs. Teams seeded in the top six are guaranteed a district berth.

Regardless of overall league record, the winners of the three respective divisions – Mountain, Sound and Valley – will be seeded in the top three and will earn first-round byes and home-court advantage on Feb. 17.

The seventh- through 10th-seeded teams will compete in elimination games on Feb. 16 to advance in the playoffs and to secure a district berth.

Games in the first two rounds – Feb. 16 and 17 – will be hosted by the higher-seeded team.

The championship game will be held at Seattle Pacific University Feb. 19. The remaining three games Feb. 18-20 will be held at Ballard High School.

Boys playoff outlook

Heading into tonight’s road game against second-ranked Rainier Beach, the boys team is 8-4 in the league, and third in the division.

In their last meeting in December, the Spartans lost 63-40, committing 31 turnovers on the night.

The Spartans will host West Seattle (5-7) Tuesday before finishing regular-season play on the road at Chief Sealth Feb. 11.

Currently, Rainier Beach (12-0) leads the Sound Division, while Seattle Prep (12-2) and Franklin (8-4) have clinched the top spots in their respective divisions.

Sound Division standings could shuffle, however, as Rainier Beach, Chief Sealth and Bainbridge will all play each other in the next week.

Chief Sealth (10-2) is two games out of first place in the Sound Division, and will face Rainier Beach Feb. 3.

The Spartans, currently in third place in the Metro, could be seeded as high as fourth in the playoffs.

Girls playoff outlook

With the entire division boasting losing records, the Spartans are on track to finish the season as the top seed from the Metro-Sound, earning them the third seed at the league championships.

The Spartans (5-7 in Metro, 4-11 overall) are 3-0 this season against the remaining teams on their schedule. The Spartans take on Rainier Beach (3-9 in the Metro, 3-11 overall) on the road at 6 p.m. tonight.

Bainbridge is two games ahead of tonight’s opponent, Rainier Beach. In their first meeting this season, the Spartans defeated the Vikings 57-34.

The Spartans will host Chief Sealth on Tuesday and finish on the road against West Seattle Feb. 11.

Bainbridge defeated Chief Sealth 45-37 Jan. 8 and West Seattle 43-34 Jan. 29.

Holy Names (14-0) will take the top Metro seed while Cleveland (9-3) and Nathan Hale (8-4) are both in the chase for the Metro-Valley title.