Defensive-minded Blue Devils rake up WB6 victory by blowing past Maple Leafs

GENESEO, Ill. — The last thing Andy Douglas wanted to see was the Quincy High School boys basketball players begin developing bad habits.

To the Blue Devils’ credit, they avoided that trap.

Able to disrupt defensively everything Geneseo tried to do, the Blue Devils closed the first half on a 16-0 run and led by 40 points by the end of the third quarter, invoking the running clock in a 64-23 victory in the Western Big 6 Conference opener.

“We got another look into how we can play when we turn it up defensively,” QHS coach Andy Douglas said. 

Although the Blue Devils (4-0, 1-0 WB6) bolted to an 8-2 lead with senior forward Camden Brown getting two dunks in the opening sequence, they didn’t gain much separation. Quincy led just 16-9 after Geneseo’s Landon Nordstrom made a 3-pointer early in the second quarter.

That’s when the lockdown happened. The Maple Leafs didn’t score the final six minutes of the first half and managed just five points in the second quarter.

“The defensive intensity was the biggest difference between the first quarter and the second quarter,” Douglas said. “Our attention to detail just wasn’t there. I thought we gambled a little too much. You can’t pick up bad habits in games like that.”

He didn’t believe the Blue Devils did, even as the scoring margin soared.

“Sometimes, you’ll have guys looking for dunks and trying to set up dunks and do things we don’t normally try in a game,” Douglas said. “Those are bad habits that are not going to win you games against top competition. We didn’t do those things. That’s the maturity showing in some ways.”

With two difficult games looming next weekend — Sterling comes to Blue Devil Gym next Friday and then Quincy faces St. Louis Chaminade in the Norm Stewart Classic in Columbia, Mo., next Saturday — the Blue Devils need to remain locked in defensively.

“Those are the habits we have to have,” Douglas said. “We practice to prepare to beat the best teams on our schedule. Our preparation going into this game should be the exact same as it is for the biggest games on our schedule.”

Brown led the Blue Devils with 18 points, while Dom Clay had 11 points and Tyler Sprick added 10. Junior guard Bradley Longcor III, a two-time All-WB6 selection, scored nine points in his first action of the season after overcoming an offseason knee injury.

“It was great to see Brad back in action,” Douglas said. “He’s done anything and everything he can to get himself back to be with the guys on the court. It was pretty cool to see him back in action.”