Collegiate connections to QHS hoops program continue to be far ranging

QUINCY — How many roads intersect with the Quincy High School boys basketball program?

Quite a few it turns out.

For example, the University of Missouri men’s basketball program’s newest coach, Dennis Gates, was a starting guard on the Chicago Whitney Young powerhouse that beat the Blue Devils in the semifinals of the Class AA state tournament in 1998.

Gates had 10 points, five rebounds and five steals in the Dolphins’ 62-34 victory at Carver Arena. He then scored a game-high 20 points in the state championship game against Galesburg as Whitney Young won 61-56.

Still, the most intriguing connection — at least for Blue Devil historians — comes from an ESPN.com article in which they rank the greatest starting five of all-time from each of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

A QHS Hall of Famer made one of those lists.

Gary Phillips, a 1957 QHS graduate, was named to the all-time starting five for the Houston Cougars. Phillips played on Houston’s 1961 Sweet 16 team and averaged 18.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in three seasons with the Cougars. He was Houston’s first All-American in 1961 and finished his career with 1,452 points, which was the all-time record at the time.

In high school, Phillips averaged 23.9 points as a senior and finished his QHS career with 1,236 points. He scored 671 points his senior season.

Phillips played five seasons in the NBA, the first with the Boston Celtics and the other four with the San Francisco Warriors.

The other four on Houston’s all-time starting five were NBA players as well — Otis Birdsong, Clyde Drexler, Elvin Hayes and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Want to check out the other all-time starting fives? Click here to link to the story.

As for the teams still in the Sweet 16, three are carrying players who have played in Blue Devil Gym.

Julian Strawther is the fourth leading scorer and third leading rebounded for top-seeded Gonzaga. The 6-foot-7 sophomore guard played for Liberty High School out of Henderson, Nev., and made two appearances in the Quincy Shootout. As a junior, Strawther scored 22 points in Liberty’s shootout opener and followed it with a 24-point performance the next day.

As a senior, Strawther was relegated to being a bystander. He suffered an ankle injury two days before Liberty made the trip to Quincy and spent the weekend in a walking boot.

Kansas sophomore guard Dejaun Harris came to the Quincy Shootout in 2019 with his Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge squad, but the Bruins suffered an 80-62 loss to Chicago Heights Marian Catholic. It didn’t derail the Bruins as they won the Missouri Class 5 state championship later that season. Harris leads the Jayhawks with 153 assists and 52 steals this season.

George Condit IV has played a sizable role in Iowa State’s turnaround, which is not a surprise for those who saw him play for Chicago Corliss against QHS during a regular-season game in 2018. Conditt had 11 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots, but the Blue Devils won 66-41 to end the Trojans’ 15-game winning streak.

Even on the high school level, there are ties.

The Blue Devils beat Webster Groves 62-54 at Blue Devil Gym in early February, only to watch the Statesmen win 10 of their next 11 games and capture the Missouri Class 5 state championship. Webster Groves senior guard Matt Enright, who received a scholarship offer from Quincy University last summer, had 16 points against the Blue Devils and scored 20 or more points in six games thereafter.

Enright had 29 points in the state quarterfinal victory over Cape Girardeau Central and had 11 points in the title game victory over Jefferson City Helias, which is coached by Hannibal native Joe Rothweiler and features all-state guard Desmond White, who is the son of Monroe City great Andre White.