Blue Devils put away pesky Crimsons to secure victory in final game at Blue Devil Gym

QUINCY — Dom Clay got all the tears out of his system on Friday night, but that did not make Saturday any less emotional or memorable.

For Clay and the seven other seniors on the Quincy High School boys basketball team, Saturday’s clash with Jacksonville marked their final game at Blue Devil Gym.

“It hit me last night, so I was prepared, like, ‘Man, tomorrow is my last game,’ but all the tears and everything came out yesterday. Nothing today,” Clay said. “Yesterday was very emotional for us.”

Senior Night and clinching the Western Big 6 Conference title with a win over Moline expended much of that emotional energy, so Blue Devils coach Andy Douglas was not overly upset with an atypical Blue Devils performance on Saturday that still resulted in a 66-49 victory.

“When you play an emotional game like you played the night before, with it being senior night, winning a conference championship on your home court, there are a lot of emotions that go into that game, then to turn around and do it all over again is not the easiest thing,” said Douglas, whose team is ranked second in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll. “I give them a little leeway.”

A 9-2 spurt to close the first half gave the Blue Devils a 40-23 halftime lead, but the Crimsons trimmed that deficit to 46-40 when Ryan McCombs drained a 3-pointer from the left corner with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.

“At that time, I was like, ‘I don’t know why Jacksonville is within six points of us,’” Blue Devils senior guard Bradley Longcor III said. “We didn’t come out the best, but we’re going to learn from it.”

Clay put an end to the Crimsons’ run with a 3-pointer in the quarter’s closing seconds, and Quincy outscored Jacksonville 17-9 in the fourth quarter, which was capped off with a personal 6-0 run by fellow senior Keshaun Thomas. A defensive rebound and coast-to-coast layup with a minute left gave Thomas 15 points and the Blue Devils their largest lead at 66-48.

“I was like, ‘This is my last bucket in this gym,’” Thomas said. “It was special.”

That late flurry left a better taste in Douglas’ mouth than the previous 31 minutes did.

“It was ugly throughout, but it ended on a good note, I can say that,” Douglas said. “It was a frustrating night for a lot of our guys tonight and me, but it was a good way for (Thomas) to go out.”

Longcor, who finished third on the Blue Devils with 13 points, was not pleased with the sluggishness Quincy showed at times, but he promised a renewed sense of vigor when the Blue Devils wrap up the regular season and go for an undefeated run through the WB6 on Tuesday at Rock Island.

“We can’t have any of that going into the postseason,” Longcor said. “We already talked about it in the locker room. Rocky is going to be our first playoff game. We’re going to come out and dominate from the start, not let our foot off the gas.”

Clay, who led all scorers with 18 points, said he shifted into postseason mode as soon as the final buzzer went off.

“It’s playoff time,” Clay said.

The Blue Devils (27-2) will begin regional play with a semifinal game against O’Fallon on Feb. 26 at Belleville West High School.

While Saturday provided one last time for the Quincy seniors to lace up their high tops at Blue Devil Gym, Thomas knows more important business is on the horizon.

“We still have more games to play,” Thomas said. “I think we’re going all the way to the state championship. We have to have that mindset in every game. Even though this is our last game in here, we still have business to take care of.”