Rocks deny Blue Devils’ bid to finish conference play undefeated in regular-season finale

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — For a moment, Quincy High School boys basketball coach Andy Douglas thought maybe his team’s lackluster demeanor was just an aberration.

The state-ranked Blue Devils lethargically took the floor for warmups prior to Tuesday night’s Western Big 6 Conference game against Rock Island at the Rocky Fieldhouse with a chance to finish the league race undefeated for the first time in more than 40 years.

“Our communication was non-existent,” Douglas said. “Our guys weren’t clapping it up like normal. It was an off night.”

Yet, the Blue Devils opened the game with Dom Clay and Mark Louthan making back-to-back 3-pointers for a 6-0 lead.

“We showed a little energy,” Douglas said.

It was fleeting. The Blue Devils were outscored 17-4 the final seven minutes of the first quarter and never got their feet back under themselves, suffering a 58-53 loss in the final regular season game.

Quincy, which went into the game ranked second in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll but likely will drop when the new poll is released Wednesday, will have eight days to prepare for its postseason opener. The top-seeded Blue Devils (27-3, 13-1 WB6) will face seventh-seeded O’Fallon (8-22) at 6 p.m. Feb. 26 in the semifinals of the Class 4A Belleville West Regional.

“When you get to this point, a loss can do one of two things,” Douglas said. “It can bleed into the next game or it can light a fire inside of you. With this group, at this point of the year, I know what I think we’ll see.

“If this doesn’t get you amped up and make you rise knowing what the possibilities could be in the future, I don’t know what would.”

Despite the poor finish to the first quarter, Quincy came back to tie the game at 19 midway through the second quarter, but Ben Goeh buried a 3-pointer from the right corner to kickstart an 11-1 run by Rock Island that gave them a 30-20 lead at halftime.

“They were the ones who played with energy,” Douglas said. “We had very little of it this game.”

The Rocks (26-5, 12-2 WB6) extended their advantage to 44-33 by the end of the third quarter before the Blue Devils made a rally. Quincy pulled within 52-51 on Bradley Longcor III’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 41.3 seconds remaining.

However, Rock Island answered with Jae’vion Clark-Pugh scoring in transition after the Rocks broke the Blue Devils’ press. Lawson Zulu turned a steal on Quincy’s next possession into a fastbreak layup to give Rock Island a two-possession lead.

“You don’t deserve to win when you put three quarters of poor basketball together,” Douglas said. “That’s exactly what we did. … The way we failed to execute offensively in the first half the way we did means you’re just digging yourself a hole.”

Longcor led the Blue Devils with 16 points, and Keshaun Thomas finished with 10. Zulu led the Rocks with 26 points.