Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Statistics, accolades and stellar play making Longcor one of QHS’s all-time greats

QUINCY — The disappointment on Bradley Longcor III’s face was present, but the determination trumped it all.

When the Quincy High School boys basketball players took the court at 5:30 a.m. on the first day of practice, Longcor stayed on the sideline. An offseason knee injury left him working individually with a trainer instead of going up and down the floor.

“It’s OK,” he said. “I’ll be back soon.”

When the season began, Longcor was still in street clothes, although he was ever-present on the floor during warmups and in team huddles. He smiled, knowing the knee had healed and he was a week or so from being on the floor in front of everyone.

“It’s OK,” he said. “It’s almost time to go.”

When it was, he never looked back.

The 6-foot-3 junior guard regained his rhythm and his feel for the game in a blink, scoring a team-leading 13 points against Galesburg in his second game back and netting 22 points against St. Louis Chaminade at the Norm Stewart Classic in just his fourth game.

By the end of the season, Longcor averaged 16.1 points, 3.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals. He shot 55 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range with 78 made treys, which is second in school history. He led the Blue Devils to a 31-4 record as they became only the fifth team in program history to reach the 30-victory plateau.

The Blue Devils also won the Western Big 6 Conference championship and a regional title, and they will return their top two scorers next season.

Named the MVP of the WB6 and an all-league selection for the third straight season, Longcor will head into his senior season with 1,297 points, 250 rebounds, 285 assists and 99 steals in his career. He is the 23rd player in program history to score 1,000 or more points in a career and currently ranks 12th all-time in scoring.

In Longcor’s three seasons on the varsity, the Blue Devils have gone 85-15.

No wonder he was named a Class 4A first-team all-stater by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and now adds the 2023-24 Muddy River Sports Player of the Year to his list of accolades.