Quarter century of memories: Wires’ buzzer-beater sinks Kahoks in sectional semifinal

Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman began covering the Quincy High School boys basketball program during the 1998-99 season, and since he recently wrapped up his 25th season following the Blue Devils, he put together a list of his 25 most memorable games. Here is today’s installment:

March 1, 2022 — Quincy 34, Collinsville 32

QUINCY — There are two significant differences between the buzzer-beater Jack Kramer hit against Pekin in the sectional semifinals in 1985 and the one Ralph Wires buried against Collinsville in the sectional semifinals in 2022.

One, Kramer had to hit two last-second shots to beat the Dragons in overtime.

Two, there were no cellphones to capture Kramer’s moment.

Wires’ game-winning shot, which occurred on the Kahoks’ home floor, was captured by cellphone video from several angles, allowing the Quincy High School point guard to not only relive the moment but it likely ends up on a video celebrating the next generation of Blue Devil highlights.

“Well, um, I’m kind of at a loss for words,” Wires said when he began describing how the final possession unfolded. “We started scrambling and there wasn’t much time left. I ripped through there and knew I had to get the shot off. We didn’t have enough time for anything else. I had to take matters into my own hands I guess.”

Facing Collinsville in the Class 4A sectional semifinals at Vergil Fletcher Gym, the Blue Devils 

Trailing by four with less than five minutes to play in regulation in the Class 4A sectional semifinals at Vergil Fletcher Gym, the Blue Devils’ Jeremiah Talton scored from the block to cut the deficit in half. Following a turnover by the Kahoks and a timeout with 3:31 to go, Blue Devils freshman Bradley Longcor III scored on a backdoor cut off a pass from Reid O’Brien to tie the game at 32 with 3:20 to go.

“Just grit,” O’Brien called it. “Against a team like Collinsville, the way they play, the way they hold the ball and get good shots, you have to have grit.”

After the Blue Devils tied the game, the Kahoks decided to sit on it as long as possible.

Collinsville, which came in riding an 18-game win streak, burned three timeouts in the span of 1 minute, 22 seconds — one was used when a ballhandler was trapped in the corner with no avenue for rescue — and took more than two minutes off the clock. 

“I was thinking, ‘Hold it as long as you want,’” Wires said. “We were going to get a stop, and we were going to get a bucket and win this game.”

With 1:05 remaining, the Kahoks’ Jake Wilkinson missed a mid-range jumper with O’Brien tipping the rebound to Longcor to give the Blue Devils the possession. Quincy sat on the ball, too, waiting until 21.8 seconds remaining to call timeout.

Yet, the moment they inbounded the ball, the Blue Devils had to scrap everything they had just talked about.

“We thought they were going to go man-to-man,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “They went zone. And then we wanted to get a high ball screen up top, and that didn’t materialize. It wasn’t a clean-cut play by any means. When you need to make plays, we made plays.”

None bigger than Wires’ final bounce to the basket.

“It was amazing,” Wires said. “It has to be the greatest feeling.”