Are Blue Devils, Kahoks on collision course for undefeated showdown in holiday tourney championship game?

QUINCY — It has been a quarter century since the Quincy High School boys basketball team last won a holiday tournament championship.

Is this the year the drought ends?

No Quincy team has gone into the Christmas break with a better record in the 26 seasons since the Blue Devils won the championship of the Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic in 1997. They are 11-0, ranked third in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll and are 6-0 in either neutral site or road games.

That includes victories over St. Louis Chaminade, which is ranked fourth in Missouri Class 6, and Webster Groves, which is tied for third in the Missouri Class 5 state poll.

Piece all of that together and the Blue Devils are the prohibitive favorites to celebrate a title with chocolate milk, right?

Collinsville may dispute that. Decatur MacArthur, too. Lincoln, Belleville East and O’Fallon might want to have a say as well.

What the Blue Devils expect to find when they arrive at Vergil Fletcher Gym on December 27 for a 2:30 p.m. opening-round matchup with Oakville (Mo.) is a tourney field stacked with some of the St. Louis Metro East’s top talent and teams with strong tournament pedigree.

Just consider this: Since the Blue Devils last won the Collinsville crown, Lincoln and Collinsville have each won three championships with Belleville East and Decatur MacArthur owning two titles apiece. Three of those 10 title game victories came against Quincy.

One of those title game losses came last season when MacArthur repeated as champion with a 57-53 victory. It was the second year in a row MacArthur beat Quincy on its way to the title, knocking off the Blue Devils 58-53 in overtime in the 2021 semifinals.

And the Generals are up to their old tricks. They carry a 9-1 record into the holidays, averaging 71.2 points per game while allowing just 51.5 points. Four of the eight players who saw action against Quincy last season return, although only 6-foot-2 senior Stevie Tatum was a starter last season.

The Generals and Blue Devils would meet in Thursday evening’s semifinals should they both get there.

On the opposite side of the bracket, Collinsville looms.

The Kahoks head into the holiday week with a 12-0 record and already have beaten three other Southwestern Conference contenders in Belleville East, O’Fallon and East St. Louis. The Kahoks are averaging 68.5 points while allowing 45.9 points, and they employ a three-headed, double-digit scoring attack.

Nick Horras, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, averages 17.7 points, while 6-foot senior guard Jamorie Wysinger averages 16.2 points and has made 32 3-pointers. Zach Chambers, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, averages 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

Attempting to keep Collinsville from a title game appearance will be Lincoln (7-3), Belleville East (7-4) and Collierville, Tenn. (9-5).

Should the Kahoks and Blue Devils navigate all of the tourney landmines, an epic championship showdown would be in store.

Because Quincy and Collinsville, two of the four winningest high school programs in the nation, are typically on opposite sides of the bracket, they have met just eight times in the holiday tournament with the Blue Devils owning a 5-3 edge. They have met for the title twice  — 1995 and 2004 — with Collinsville winning both.