Halfway home: Blue Devils reach midpoint of WB6 season in first place after fending off Silver Streaks

GALESBURG, Ill. — Quincy High School boys basketball Andy Douglas believes his players deserve a nomination for an Emmy or an Academy Award.

Leading Galesburg by two points with 8.5 seconds remaining in regulation Friday night at John Thiel Gym, Douglas instructed the Blue Devils during a timeout called by the Silver Streaks to act like they were coming out in a man-to-man defense.

“I told them I wanted us pointing at guys and saying, ‘I got him. I got him,’” Douglas said.

It achieved the desired effect.

“They looked at the bench and they called out a different play,” Douglas said. “We were right in position to cover it at the top of the key.”

The Blue Devils forced Silver Streaks point guard Jeremiah Babers to launch and miss a contested 3-point attempt, resulting in a 55-53 Western Big 6 Conference victory.

“It was nerve-racking, but Coach told us when we came out of the huddle to be composed and work together to get a stop,” Quincy senior guard Terron Cartmill said.

It cemented the Blue Devils’ spot atop the WB6 standings at the midpoint of the league season. Quincy (15-3, 7-0 WB6) leads Rock Island by a game and Moline by two games.

“It feels really good but we’re not being satisfied,” Cartmill said. “We wanna keep getting better every day. Still a lot of work to do.”

But the schedule is in Quincy’s favor. The Blue Devils play four of their final seven league games at home, including playing host to the Rocks (11-6, 6-1 WB6) on Feb. 11 and the Silver Streaks (15-4, 4-3 WB6) on Feb. 15 in the regular season finale.

“We’ve done our job,” Douglas said. “You have to take care of what you can control, and we’ve worked extremely hard. Our practices have been great. It’s no surprise. They’ve done a good job putting themselves in this position. I’m proud of them.”

It helps to get offensive contributions from unexpected sources.

Cartmill, who had missed all five 3-point attempts he had taken this season and was averaging just 1.9 points per game, answered the Silver Streaks’ opening 5-0 salvo by making his first 3-pointer of the season. He added another in the first quarter to tie the game at 8 and knocked down a third to give the Blue Devils the lead in the third quarter.

“We talked Monday when someone told him, ‘Man, that’s not your shot,’ when they were joking around with him,” Douglas said. “We told him, ‘No, you can shoot it. You’re a high-percentage shooter at practice. It’s your footwork at times that is the problem.’ But he stepped up in a huge way. It provided us with a spark we needed at critical points during the night.”

Cartmill finished with a team-high 13 points.

“I let the game come to me,” Cartmill said. “I shot it in rhythm and was able to knock it down.”

With Jeremiah Talton, the WB6’s leading scorer, sitting the final 10 minutes of the first half in foul trouble and trying to keep his injured ankle loose, the Blue Devils needed help. Cartmill and freshman forward Keshaun Thomas provided it.

The 6-foot-5 Thomas had 12 points, while Talton finished with 10 points. In fact, 11 of the 13 points scored in the second quarter came from freshmen and sophomores.

Their presence helped fend off the Silver Streaks, who hit buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the end of the first half and the third quarter. The game featured 10 lead changes and 10 ties.

Neither team led by more than three points in the fourth quarter with the Blue Devils taking the lead for good at 54-53 on Thomas’ two free throws with 2:07 to play. Ralph Wires made it a two-point game when he split two free throws with 1:04 to go.

The Silver Streaks failed to score on their final seven possessions, missing five 3-point attempts in that stretch. Finding a way to win in the closing minutes is what has set the Blue Devils apart from the rest of the league.

“It’s been a fun ride so far,” Douglas said. “We’re not anywhere near where we need to be or where we want to be. When you’re playing like this and taking strides in the right direction, we’ll take it.”