Schuckman: Roar after Wells’ shot is reminder he is small part of Blue Devil tradition now and forever

QUINCY — The clamor began as soon as Wil Wells stood up and made his way to the scorer’s table to check in to Tuesday night’s game against Rock Island Alleman.

He knew it wouldn’t stop until he scored.

“It’s a little bit of pressure, I have to admit,” Wells said.

A senior forward on the Quincy High School boys basketball team, Wells is part of the bench brigade, those who work tirelessly in practice with the hopes of getting a few minutes here or there when the Blue Devils put a game out of reach.

Typically, those minutes come in the fourth quarter with the urging of the student section seated over the shoulders of the coaching staff. In the 66-33 victory over Alleman — Quincy led 50-12 at halftime — those minutes came earlier and were more substantial.

It allowed the student section to be more raucous, too.

“I have so many great friends who used to play, so they know what we go through every day,” Wells said. “We struggle, we fight and we bleed and sweat together. We love it. It’s just so much fun. It’s such a great honor to play in this gym.”

Those friends in the stands behind the bench wanted him to score more than anything else.

“When I got in, I was chucking and it wasn’t going in,” Wells said. “You just keep going and it’s going to go in. You miss all the shots you don’t take. I kept shooting it and it finally went in.”

It took 10 tries and a twisted ankle, but Wells finally scored in the fourth quarter. The roar from the students was as loud — maybe louder — than when teammate Jeremiah Talton made his seventh 3-pointer of the first half and broke the single-season 3-point shooting record.

“It was a relief, especially since I think I sprained my ankle on one of the shot attempts,” said Wells, who has scored six points this season. “So I was kind of lugging around out there. I was just trying to get a bucket. Cameron Bergman and Ayden Stapleton kept passing me the ball and they wanted me to get one so bad. I finally got it and it was great.”

Quincy coach Andy Douglas clapped and smiled.

“I’m almost as nervous when he shoots it wanting it to go in so bad as I am when it’s a last-second shot,” Douglas said. “You get kids like Wil, who has put hours and hours training in during the offseason. He shows up to everything in the offseason. He’s been a great leader for our younger guys and our entire team all season long.

“He’s a Blue Devil. You want guys like that to have success. He never complains. He comes in to practice and gets beat up and does some beating on guys. I get nervous when he shoots wanting them to go in, and I get excited when they do.”

No one gets more excited than the student section.

“He gave himself what he wanted with that basket,” Douglas said. “And he gave the student section, which has been his No. 1 fan all season long, what they needed.”

And when this season ends, Wells will have what he needed, too.

He will be a part of the Blue Devil tradition now and forever.

“This is the greatest honor I’ve had in my life to be able to come out here and play on this court with all this history,” Wells said. “We’re just trying to add to the great resume this program has.”