Blue Devils capitalize on Austin’s absence by overpowering Golden Warriors for WB6 victory

QUINCY — The gameplan didn’t change, even if the opposing lineup did.

The Sterling boys basketball team arrived at Blue Devil Gym for Friday night’s Western Big 6 Conference clash without 6-foot-7, 265-pound senior forward Lucas Austin, an all-state offensive tackle who is taking an official football recruiting visit this weekend to West Virginia.

“I wanted him there,” Quincy High School junior guard Bradley Longcor III said. “I want all the competition we can get.”

It was an unexpected twist Quincy coach Andy Douglas didn’t see coming.

“No clue that was going to be the case,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said of Austin being absent.

Not that it mattered.

“Our goal was to get the ball inside from the start and pound it in and play off our guys in the paint,” Douglas said. “So that didn’t change at all. We planned to do that even with Austin there. It is a little different without him in the lineup because he is big and he does a lot for them.

“It affected them more than it did us.”

It left the Golden Warriors without a way to slow the Blue Devils down.

After steadily increasing its lead to 33-23 by halftime, Quincy outscored Sterling 19-10 in the third quarter and invoked a running clock for the game’s final five minutes in earning a 66-41 Western Big 6 Conference victory.

“We made a big emphasis at halftime about picking up our defense,” said Quincy senior forward Camden Brown, who scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the first half. “They had too many open shots. We weren’t finding closeouts, and we weren’t talking. That all had to change.”

It changed in a dramatic way.

The Blue Devils (6-0, 3-0 WB6) outscored the Golden Warriors 13-2 over the first six minutes of the third quarter and then started the fourth quarter on a 12-1 run that brought about the mercy rule following Isiah Talton’s 3-pointer with 5:44 to go in regulation.

“Coach talked to us at halftime and told us we have to talk, we have to stay disciplined, we have to come with more energy,” said Longcor, who finished with 16 points. “We did all those things. That is ultimately what led to how we played.”

The theme became attack, attack, attack.

“We were coming into the game to attack anyway,” Brown said. “We knew they were going to come in with some energy, especially after getting beat by 30 (by Rock Island on Tuesday) at their home place. So we came in ready to play.”

Brown and  junior forward Keshaun combined for 18 first-half points as they controlled the paint and the glass, 

“You have to make adjustments,” Longcor said. “Since Austin wasn’t there, Keshaun was going to have a big game. Mark (Louthan) was going to have a big game. Cam was going to have a big game. It left a lot more rebounds for us when we attack like that.”

Thomas and Talton added 10 points apiece for the Bleu Devils, while Andre Klaver led the Golden Warriors with 12 points. Nico Battaglia and Maddux Osborn added 10 points apiece for Sterling.

Saturday, the Blue Devils head to Columbia, Mo., to face St. Louis Chaminade in the final game of the Norm Stewart Classic at Mizzou Arena. Chaminade is 2-0 and features 6-foot junior guard Collin Perry and 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Jahadi White Jr.

“It’s the biggest team we’ve played and you have to be ready to do whatever it takes against the best teams on your schedule,” Douglas said.

Much like facing an Austin-less Sterling squad, the Blue Devils won’t change the gameplan based on who is or isn’t on the floor.

“We have to do us and play the way we want to play regardless of who is on the floor,” Douglas said. “We talked about that before going out for the game and we’ll talk about the same thing against Chaminade. We have to do us.”