Blue Devils focus on task at hand, pummel Silver Streaks for another WB6 road victory

GALESBURG, Ill. — Remaining ever-present can be a challenge when you know what lies ahead.

The Quincy High School boys basketball players are meeting that challenge head on.

Fully aware a pivotal Western Big 6 Conference showdown looms Friday night against Sterling at Blue Devil Gym, the Blue Devils didn’t overlook having to take care of Tuesday night’s game against Galesburg first. They bolted to a 10-0 lead, led 25-6 at the end of the first quarter and steamrolled the Silver Streaks 86-34 at John Thiel Gym.

“It’s the level of maturity we are at right now,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “It doesn’t mean we’re where we need to be or want to be, but we’re making strides in the right direction. It takes a mature team to put together solid practices leading up to that.

“After beating Geneseo last Friday, we came in on Saturday for practice and got after it. Back in the gym on Monday and they were ready to go. I don’t know if we had that consistency last year leading up to games, but this group is focused in and ready to go.”

That has to continue with a big weekend ahead.

First, the Blue Devils (5-0, 2-0 WB6) play their WB6 home opener against the Golden Warriors, who ended Moline’s 24-game conference win streak last week but suffered a 66-34 loss to Rock Island on Tuesday night. Then, the Blue Devils travel to Columbia, Mo., to face St. Louis Chaminade in the Norm Stewart Classic in Mizzou Arena.

“We’ll have a gameplan ready to go and we’ll get focused in on Sterling,” Douglas said.

The Blue Devils were focused on stopping the Silver Streaks from the get-go Tuesday night.

“I thought we were dialed in defensively,” Douglas said. “Energy-wise, we were there. It was a big focus of ours to come out and communicate. That’s an area that is going to take our defense to the next level, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

Bradley Longcor III led the Blue Devils with 13 points, and Tyler Sprick added 11.

“Offensively, we did a great job of scoring off turnovers,” Douglas said. “At one point, I looked up in the second quarter and our guys had eight points, nine points, 11 points. We shared the ball extremely well and we didn’t care who got the credit.”