Beyond the Boxscore: Talton adjusts to physical defense, Blue Devils regain series control, Raiders look to rebound quickly

QUINCY — Jeremiah Talton hurt. Understandably so.

Friday night, in the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s 63-49 victory over Moline in Western Big 6 Conference play at Blue Devil Gym, the Maroons chose to defend the league’s leading scorer by putting a defender chest-to-chest with the 6-foot-6 swingman.

Talton got bumped on every cut or flash through the lane. He was checked on every shot. He was hip-checked on every rebound. He even took three charges, leaving him flatbacked on the gym floor.

The defensive ploy limited him to seven points, but it backfired as the Blue Devils had three freshmen combine for 43 points to keep the Blue Devils unbeaten in WB6 play. Still, not even the thrill of victory could keep him from waking up sore Saturday.

“I’m not going to lie, I was sore,” Talton said. “All summer I worked in the weight room to prepare for those bumps.”

He had a few more after Saturday night. QND’s Braden Sheffield was tasked with guarding Talton, and he limited the NCAA Division I recruit to 16 points — 12 points fewer than his average. Talton didn’t score until hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter. He had nine points at halftime.

“I thought (Sheffield) did a good job with Jeremiah and made things difficult for him,” Raiders coach Kevin Meyer said. “Jeremiah is extremely talented and is going to find ways to score every night.”

But it’s getting tougher because of the attention he’s drawing.

“After the big scoring nights by me, we knew teams were going to focus on me and putting a dude on me the whole game,” Talton said. “So doing the little things — rebounding, taking charges, setting screens — is what I have to do because somebody is going to have the chance to pick us up.”

He is doing a lot of things to help the Blue Devils enjoy this ride. Talton grabbed four rebounds, drew a charge, blocked a shot and had two assists against the Raiders.

“Jeremiah proved to his teammates he could play off the ball and say, ‘Hey, all right, they’re covering me. I’m going to get other guys available off of screens and cuts, too,’” QHS coach Andy Douglas said.

QHS regains control of series

This was the seventh consecutive season the Quincy schools have met on the hardwood with the Blue Devils winning the first five before the Raiders earned a 50-49 victory in March to end the COVID-stunted season.

Here is a look at the series since its revival in 2015:

December 19, 2015 at the Pit — QHS 64, QND 56

December 17, 2016 at Blue Devil Gym — QHS 68, QND 50

December 16, 2017 at the Pit — QHS 58, QND 46

December 15, 2018 at Blue Devil Gym — QHS 79, QND 59

December 21, 2019 at the Pit — QHS 55, QND 50

March 13, 2021 at Blue Devil Gym — QND 50, QHS 49

December 18, 2021 at the Pit — QHS 59, QND 37

Raiders with chance to rebound

Before beginning preparations for the State Farm Holiday Classic, which begins December 27 with the seventh-seeded Raiders facing 10th-seeded Rock Falls at noon, the Raiders have one last pre-Christmas hurdle to clear.

Tuesday, they travel to Monmouth-Roseville to face the Titans, who are 6-5 after Saturday’s loss to Cerro Gordo.

“We forget about this one,” QND junior point guard Jake Hoyt said after the loss to QHS. “We put the work in at practice and take care of business at Monmouth-Roseville on Tuesday and get ready to go.”

QND needs shots to fall

After scoring 137 points combined in the first two games of the season, Quincy Notre Dame’s offense has struggled to consistently make shots. In the past six games, the Raiders have scored no more than 51 points, been held in the 40s three times and hit a season low Saturday night with the 37-point effort.

They missed their first eight shots and were 1 of 11 from the field at one point.

“It’s the same old story right now of getting looks but not dropping them,” Meyer said. “Then you get in a hole. So we call timeout and we say this is what we’re going to do. Then we miss another shot. That frustrates our guys.”