Dunk and destroy: Clay’s breakaway slam ignites massive surge as Blue Devils win regional semi

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Rico Clay Jr.’s instincts when it comes to making a play on the ball brought more than a handful of college football recruiters to visit the talented cornerback last summer and fall.

Those same instincts helped ensure the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s season didn’t end prematurely.

With the top-seeded Blue Devils leading seventh-seeded O’Fallon 32-31 late in the third quarter of Wednesday night’s Class 4A Belleville West Regional semifinal, Clay tipped in a miss on Quincy’s fourth offensive rebound of the possession, but the best was still to come.

On the Panthers’ final possession of the quarter, the Illinois State University football recruit jumped the passing lane for a steal and turned it into a breakaway dunk just before the buzzer, giving the Blue Devils a 36-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Quincy rode the momentum to a 54-36 victory.

“The steal and dunk at the end were massive, but what he did playmaking, finishing inside, passing inside, defensively, he was just a pest all night,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “He played great tonight.”

The 10 points Clay finished with weren’t a career high, but you could argue all of his contributions made this the best effort of the 6-foot-4 senior forward’s career.

“I would make an argument for that as well,” Douglas said.

The Blue Devils (28-3) needed that spark.

Quincy led 26-17 at halftime after Bradley Longcor III buried a 16-foot jumper at the second-quarter buzzer, but O’Fallon opened the third quarter with a burst. The Panthers scored the first eight points and pulled within 31-29 when junior forward Jayden Dancy was fouled making a 3-pointer and completed a four-point play.

Senior guard Andre Stanley scored on the next possession to tie the game at 31 with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter.

“Everybody is fighting for another game, so you’re going to get everybody’s best,” Douglas said. “Guys are going to knock down shots and make plays who typically don’t make plays. We expect that from our guys. So you have to deal with it and overcome it.”

Milton Whitfield split a pair of free throws to give Quincy a 32-31 lead before Clay’s plays built the five-point advantage. The Blue Devils scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to take a 49-31 lead and allowed Douglas to get his starters off the floor for a bit of rest heading into Friday night’s regional championship.

“That’s how you want to finish,” Douglas said. “You want to start strong, too, but that doesn’t always happen.”

Dancy made a pair of 3-pointers as the Panthers ripped off an 8-2 run to start the game. The Blue Devils didn’t take their first lead until Keshaun Thomas’ three-point play with 1:47 remaining in the first quarter. They proceeded to outscore the Panthers 10-2 over the closing six minutes of the first half to gain the nine-point advantage.

Thomas scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the first half and he finished with a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds. Longcor added 10 points.

The Blue Devils advance to face fourth-seeded Belleville East (22-9) at 7 p.m. Friday in the championship at Belleville West High School. The Lancers eliminated sixth-seeded Belleville West with a 59-50 victory.

“It’s going to be a home game for them,” Douglas said. “But the way our fans travel was huge tonight. It was packed with Blue Devil blue and I expect it to be packed Friday night.”

It could the difference in energy the Blue Devils need.

“First and foremost, our guys have to get some quality rest,” Douglas said. “We’re going to get home at a decent time, but getting rest is going to be huge. Staying engaged in the classroom is going to be huge, too. You don’t want any setbacks at this stage of the season.

“We’re going to have to come in mentally ready to go because it’s a short turnaround. We’ll come in and finish our game plan and know what we want to execute, and Friday we’ll be ready to go.”