Clamping down defensively allows top-ranked Blue Devils to crumble Rocks in WB6 showdown

QUINCY — The challengers continue to line up to take a crack at knocking the Quincy High School boys basketball team from its best-team-in-the-state perch.

They keep failing for one very significant reason.

The Blue Devils adjust, anchor down and get aggressive defensively.

“I like our odds against anybody as long as we do what we’re supposed to do on the defensive end,” senior point guard Kamren Wires said after No. 1-ranked Quincy held No. 9 Rock Island to just 26 points over the final three quarters of Friday night’s 56-44 Western Big 6 Conference victory at Blue Devil Gym. “Our team surges because of our defense.”

The Blue Devils get feisty when they get riled up, too.

The Rocks led 16-11 with 1:50 remaining in the first quarter before the Blue Devils went on a 9-2 that stretched into the second quarter. A 3-pointer by Deven Marshall with five minutes remaining in the half gave Rock Island a 21-20 lead, but on Quincy’s ensuing possession, a scramble for a loose ball led to some chest-bumping and jawing.

Rock Island’s Benjamin Goeh was hit with a technical foul and Bradley Longcor III made the free throws to flip the lead back in Quincy’s favor. It jumpstarted a 15-3 run to close the half and give the Blue Devils a 35-24 advantage.

Quincy (17-1, 7-0 WB6) never trailed again.

“We stayed aggressive,” Quincy senior guard Dom Clay said. “All we had to do was stick to our plan, play defense, be aggressive, just keep our own energy.”

Rock Island (18-2, 6-1 WB6) couldn’t match it.

“The response was on the defensive end,” Wires said. “All five guys talking, hands up, yelling gaps. That’s a scary thing as an opponent seeing a team all active and jumping around. That slowed them down.”

It took away what had been working — penetration off the dribble into gaps in the high post which led to looks closer to the rim.

“We’re athletic enough and long enough that we can sit in gaps and still be able to find guys and close out to them on the perimeter,” Douglas said. “We’ve been doing a much better job of that. We’ve been telling them to stay engaged in the gap, and off the ball, we have to do that.

“When you play teams like Rocky, like Vashon, you have to do that. They rely on getting to the paint off the drive. I thought we did a job of closing that out tonight.”

What had Douglas concerned was the lack of execution on the offensive end.

The Blue Devils went 8 of 13 from the field in the second quarter when they outscored the Rocks 19-6 to take control of the game. However, they went 11 of 32 from the field in the other three quarters combined, started the second half on a 1-of-8 drought and finished 1 of 9 from 3-point range.

“We work so hard on the defensive side that we cannot ruin the possession offensively because we don’t execute the way we’re capable of executing,” Douglas said. “I’ll give Rocky a lot of credit. What they did is what we did. They took us out of a lot of things we wanted to do offensively and locked up on the defensive.

“We did the same thing. We took them out of what they wanted to do by locking up on the defensive end.”

Quincy did enjoy balanced scoring offensively with senior Keshaun Thomas leading the way with 14 points, while Clay had 11, Wires scored 10 and Longcor finished with eight. Goeh led Rock Island with 17, while Lawson Zulu had 10.

“All five guys shared the ball well,” Wires said. “All fvie guys aren’t selfish and know their roles. At the end of the day, it’s a team game and all we can do is play as a team.”

And hope for more games that carry the intensity and intrigue Friday night’s matchup did.

“It was really loud,” Wires said with more than 3,500 fans in attendance and first place in the WB6 at stake. “It was a totally different type of atmosphere our guys have to handle going forward.”