Blue Devils find footing after first quarter, figure out way to finally beat Statesmen

QUINCY — Coming off of its first Western Big 6 Conference setback of the season Friday night against Moline, the Quincy High School boys basketball team had less than 24 hours to wipe the memory clean.

It turns out a few extra minutes were needed.

Like eight extra.

A slow first quarter offensively pinned the Blue Devils in an 18-13 hole against Webster Groves (Mo.) on Saturday night at Blue Devil Gym. But Dominique Clay came off the bench to provide a spark with nine second-quarter points, propelling the Blue Devils to a four-point halftime lead.

The Blue Devils poured on the pressure in the second half, resulting in a 62-54 victory over the Statesmen.

“I think really our schedule sets us up for that,” QHS coach Andy Douglas said. “We’re playing Friday and Saturday most weekends. Last night was a tough one. For our guys to be able to bounce back against another really good opponent like Webster Groves was big for us.”

It is the first time in four tries the Blue Devils have beaten the Statesmen since their series began in 2018. Quincy senior standout Jeremiah Talton said the Blue Devils needed to remain focused and stick to the game plan.

“We know our potential and what we need to do in order to win these types of big games,” Talton said.

They had to slow Matt Enright, too.

As a sophomore in 2020, the Webster Groves guard knocked down eight 3-pointers, which led to a game-high 26 points as the Statesmen won at Blue Devils.

Saturday night, Enright made himself at home in Blue Devil Gym again, knocking down his first trey from the Blue Devil logo near midcourt. Enright converted three of his first four attempts from the perimeter until Douglas’ made a defensive shift.

Enright ended with 16 points and only made one three in the second half.

“We went to more of a match up zone than a typical 1-2-2,” Douglas said. “We’ve had to pull that out a couple of times this year and tonight was probably the best that we have guarded in that. It caused some problems for them trying to figure out what we were in and what to run against it.

“I give our guys a lot of credit, to be able to execute that switch mid game is not an easy  thing to do, and they did almost to perfection.”

Pressure has been a big topic all season for the Blue Devils.

It forced a costly amount of turnovers for the Statesmen.

“The one thing with our group is that we got to be in a position where we embrace the pressure,” Douglas stated. “You know, we got guys that can handle the ball, and if we can get to spots, we’re going to get open shots off of it. We were able to get a few tonight.”

Talking about embracing the pressure, freshman Bradley Longcor did just that, scoring eight opf his 16 points in the fourth quarter while contributing to the team’s 20th win of the season.

Talton finished with a game-high 18 points.

“We knew they were going to go on runs and we knew we were going to go on runs so the coach just told us that we got to stay composed, get big stops, and slow down on the offensive end and make shots,” Talton said.

When asked about reaching 20 victories with four games remaining ahead of postseason play, Talton said he is happy as his high school career is coming to a close.

“It’s really big,” Talton said. “We’re still not done yet, so we just have to keep improving and getting better each day.”

Quincy hasn’t had a 20-win season since 2017-2018.

Douglas didn’t even realize they were at the 20-win mark.

“For us, and for me, I’ve never been worried about wins as much as I have continuous improvement,” Douglas said. “This game coming off of Friday night’s game shows us that we are moving in the right direction.”