Pair of undefeated titans to go head-to-head as Quincy will face Collinsville for tourney title

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — Tyler Sprick insisted the Quincy High School boys basketball players didn’t look too far ahead when checking out the Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic bracket.

“It was, ‘Who’s on our list and what do we have to do to beat them?’’ the senior guard said.

Still, the Blue Devils knew what potentially loomed.

Everyone did.

Should both Quincy, ranked third in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll and unbeaten through 11 games, and Collinsville, ranked 10th and unbeaten through 12 games, each win their first three tournament games, they’d meet in an epic championship showdown.

Well, they both did. Now, at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Collinsville’s Vergil Fletcher Gym, two of the winningest high school programs in the nation go head-to-head with a potential No. 1 state ranking at stake.

“Everybody wanted this, and shoot, we wanted it, too,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “I’m not going to lie. We wanted this game, too. To play them on their home court and face that tough, tough environment in a championship game, this is what we want.

“We want to put our team in tough situations to compete against top-tier teams, and Collinsville is one of those.”

The Kahoks certainly are.

Collinsville has enjoyed an average margin of victory of 27 points in three tournament games and overall this season is averaging 66.2 points and allowing 44.5 points. The Kahoks’ three-headed scoring attack — Nick Horras, Jamorie Wysinger and Zach Chambers — has been impressive.

Overall, the three combine to average 47.3 points, and in tournament play, they have averaged 47.6 points. Wysinger went 7 of 10 from 3-point range in the semifinal victory over Lincoln, while Horras scored 20 points in the quarterfinal victory over Troy Triad and Chambers went for 17 points and 13 rebounds in the opener against Decatur Eisenhower.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have displayed all of their weapons, too.

Junior guard Bradley Longcor III, senior guard Camden Brown and junior forward Keshaun Thomas have combined to average 41.3 points in the tournament with Longcor reaching double figures in all three games, including a 27-point effort against Belleville Althoff. Thomas had an 11-point, 16-rebound effort against O’Fallon in the semifinals.

This will be the ninth time the two titans have met in the tournament and third time in the championship game. Collinsville has won both title tilts, scoring a 47-46 victory in 2004 and a 45-38 victory in 1995. The Kahoks also won the last meeting, beating the Blue Devils 49-34 in the third-place game in 2021.

Overall, Quincy is 5-3 against Collinsville at the holiday tournament.

The Kahoks are looking for their sixth title and first since 2019, while the Blue Devils are seeking their fifth title and first since 1997.

“None of us really looked at our record coming in or worried about that,” Sprick said. “All we talked about was what it would take to win the tournament. We didn’t talk about coming out of here 15-0 or 16-0 or whatever it could be. We want to come out of here with a championship.”

First, they had to get to the final game.

“That’s part of the goal,” Douglas said. “Finishing it off is the main goal.”