50 After 50: After getting pushed around as overmatched freshmen, No. 11 Raiders muscle up as seniors

The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties since 1972.

No. 11 —2016-17 Quincy Notre Dame

QUINCY — The 2013-14 season was one to forget for the Quincy Notre Dame boys basketball program.

The Raiders won just seven games under first-year coach Bob Sheffield, the worst record at the school since a 6-20 record in 1989-90. Sheffield played four freshmen — Carter Cramsey, Johnny Ray, Jacob Mayfield and Justin Bottorff — on that team, which suffered through growing pains.

“I remember getting thrown into my first game having to guard (Gabe) McKenzie (from Canton, Mo.),” Bottorff said. “He posted me up, and I remember him saying something like, ‘Give me the ball. This kid’s not stopping me.’ I knew who he was, and I’m looking up to this guy. When I started guarding him, and he started s**t-talking me right away.

“We definitely learned a lot that season. A losing season taught us you’ve got to learn to lose first to learn how to win. Just taking a beating all the time like that, honestly, kind of fueled the fire for us going into the future. Looking back, I definitely think there were some good parts to all of it.”

The Raiders weren’t much better the next season, finishing with a 10-17 record, but they made major improvements in 2015-16 under new coach Kevin Meyer. They finished with a 26-5 record and won a regional championship before losing to Pleasant Plains in the sectional.

“When we were juniors, we gelled with the senior class,” Bottorff said. “We just had that chemistry.”

Plenty was expected of the Raiders entering the 2016-17 season, especially after they completed the summer circuit. With four returning starters all 6-foot-2 or taller, QND was becoming a team that could score in many ways with many weapons.

“We had such a great summer,” Bottorff said. “We just dominated. I just remember we killed everybody. It was such a fun brand of basketball. That’s eventually what brought so many people to the Pit every night. We just flew around. Just go make plays. Our chemistry allowed us to do that. Our skill sets were so versatile, and our chemistry really allowed us to play at that speed.”

The Raiders opened the season with six straight victories, and five of them were by 15 points or more. QND lost to Quincy High School 68-50 but rebounded to beat Breese Mater Dei 67-50. The Raiders then romped through the State Farm Holiday Classic, beating Bloomington Central Catholic 66-45 in the semifinals and St. Joseph-Ogden 81-73 despite 51 points from Brandon Trimble.

“(Beating SJO) was definitely a big game for us,” Bottorff said. “We went up against one of the best players in the state.”

The Raiders continued to roll, thrashing Pittsfield 62-39 and Sherrard 81-48 at home. Next up was the Jerseyville Tournament, which featured Class 3A and 4A schools and a much more physical style of play.

Yet the Raiders pulled out four victories, defeating Cahokia 70-58, Collinsville 72-66, Highland 71-51 and Jerseyville 78-61. They scored a season-high 35 points in the first quarter against Jerseyville. Bottorff, Mayfield and Cramsey made the all-tournament team, with Mayfield earning most outstanding player honors.

“Cahokia was always super big, athletic and fast, which was kind of our advantage versus everybody else all year, especially the local smaller schools,” Bottorff said. “That was a huge tournament.”

A winning streak that eventually reached 13 games ended in a 71-69 loss to St. Mary’s out of St. Louis, which was led by Yuri Collins, who later played at Saint Louis University. Antonio Burks hit a buzzer-beater to give the victory to the Dragons, ranked No. 2 in Missouri’s Class 4A.

“I remember feeling like we kind of gave that one away,” Bottorff said. “I think losses in the middle of season like that, especially with a really good team, they can kind of humble you. It kind of get us back into being hungry again. It kind of refueled that fire a little bit.”

The Raiders, ranked No. 2 in the Class A state poll, closed out the regular season by averaging 80 points per game in winning their last five games. Both Bottorff and Cramsey moved into the 1,000-point career scoring list at QND, joining 12 other players.

QND then opened the Class 2A regional at home by crushing Beardstown 101-55. Next up was a revenge game against Pleasant Plains in front of a spirited crowd.

“I remember the atmosphere (the year before in the sectional loss at Beardstown),” Bottorff said. “It was crazy. It was a little overwhelming. (Plains) really hopped out on us in the first half. I remember the locker room at halftime of that game. Everyone was a little on edge and a little nervous.

“We used the memory of that loss and all the emotions that went into it (the following year). That was a huge fire motivating us that whole year, because most of the guys came back. We wanted Plains all year. We were super pumped that we got the chance to play them and got a chance to get revenge on court. It was awesome.”

The Raiders won the regional championship 68-59, with Bottorff leading the way with 25 points. A two-handed tomahawk dunk by Bottorff seemed to be the nail in the coffin, putting the Raiders ahead 62-51 with about three minutes to play while sending the home crowd into hysteria. 

With 50 seconds to play, however, Bottorff was driving the baseline when Plains’ Nic Clemens fouled him. The players had words under the QND basket before teammates and officials separated them. The officials eventually ejected both players from the game.

“Someone threw a long outlet pass to me, and I kind of got a fast break,” Bottorff said. “I remember being chucked out of bounds. The emotions definitely got the best of me. I think they got the best of all of us at one time or another in that game.”

The ejection meant Bottorff, the team’s leading scorer at 18 points per game, didn’t get to play in the sectional semifinal against Stanford Olympia on Olympia’s home court. However, he prepared his teammates by taking the role of the Spartans’ 6-foot-7 Charles Payton during practices.

Payton finished with 15 points — 10 below his season average — as QND rolled to a 71-49 victory.

“Honestly, I was super depressed,” Bottorff said. “I really felt mad at myself because I felt like I let my team down and I would not be there for them. But the biggest thing I remember out of all that is before right before tipoff, Jacob came over, put his arm around me and says, ‘This one’s for you.’ I remember him and Carter balling out. They played amazing. It was awesome.”

A 77-58 victory over Tremont in the sectional championship put the Raiders within one victory of a state tournament bid and a likely matchup with No. 1-ranked Chicago Orr. Only Monticello in the super-sectional stood in the way.

However, the Raiders, who had scored less than 60 points in a game just twice all season, scored a season-low in a 51-49 loss. The Sages’ Johnny Dawson hit a game-winning free-throw line jump shot with 1.7 seconds left for the winning points.

The Raiders finished 28-3, the second-best record in program history. They averaged nearly 74 points per game, and the average margin of defeat was 27.5 points.

“To be honest, we were already booking tickets for state,” Bottorff said. “Everyone was hyped up, looking forward to that. We didn’t overlook (Monticello). I wouldn’t say that. It was almost like we weren’t focused. We just kind of forgot a step in the process. I remember they zoned us up and forced us to shoot outside, and that was our weakness. They made it as hard as possible on us.”

Bottorff signed with Quincy University after graduating from QND, then left after one year and played at John Wood Community College. He finished his playing career during the 2021-22 season at Augustana University in Rock Island, and he’s searching for a graduate assistant coaching job for next season.