Friday night’s sluggish start becomes distant memory as Blue Devils race to 35-9 lead in rout

QUINCY — It wasn’t going to be a repeat performance.

One night after being held to a lone field goal in the first quarter and to just 13 points in the opening half against United Township, the Quincy High School boys basketball team made sure there would be no need for any second-half heroics.

Beginning with Bradley Longcor III’s baseline dunk in the opening minute and ending with his 3-pointer from the top of the circle as time expired, Quincy was nearly flawless on both ends of the floor in the first quarter Saturday night against Batavia in Blue Devil Gym.

The Blue Devils erupted for 27 points to take an 18-point lead and were never threatened in coasting to a 69-36 victory over the Bulldogs and improving their record to 24-2.

“Just having energy, the stuff we didn’t bring to the first half (Friday) night,” Longcor said. “We definitely needed that to show we’re back on track. We watched the film. We knew we had to come out ready to play.”

Quincy looked like the third-ranked team in Class 4A from the get-go.

All five starters got in the scoring column in the opening eight minutes as the Blue Devils worked the ball patiently on offense and were smothering on defense. 

Back-to-back steals and layups by Kamren Wires forced Batavia coach Jim Nazos to call his first timeout three minutes into the game with his team trailing 12-3.

He was forced to call another two and a half minutes later after Keshaun Thomas twice scored from the low block, Longcor drove across the lane for a layup and Wire won a scramble for a loose ball and put it in to make it 20-5.

Quincy ked 27-9 at the end of the quarter and stretched the advantage to 35-9 three minutes into the second period thanks to six points from Longcor and a steal and dunk by Milton Whitfield.

By that time, Friday night’s miserable first half was a distant memory.

“The one thing about our schedule is you don’t have a whole lot of time to dwell on things, whether they’re good or bad,” Blue Devils coach Andy Douglas said. “The guys were on offensively, and we did it in a variety of ways. We got more offensive transition opportunities than I think we have in the last few games. Keshaun did a really good job of imposing himself on the inside, and then guys knocked down some shots, which was good to see from the start.”

Quincy shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, which ended with a 40-14 lead. Batavia, meanwhile, went 5-for-22 from the field, including just 2-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half.

A driving layup by Wires, a floater from the lane by Longcor and a transition bucket by Thomas pushed the advantage to 46-14 to start the third period. The Bulldogs closed within 50-26 thanks to a four-point play by Joe Reid, but the Blue Devils scored the final 11 points of the quarter to start a running clock.

The winner’s biggest lead was 39 points.

Longcor finished with 20 points, Dom Clay 13 and Thomas 12 for Quincy, which shot 52 percent from the field overall. Jax Abalos was the only Batavia player to reach double figures with 10.

The Bulldogs (9-15) made just 12 of 42 field goal tries and committed 10 turnovers.

Quincy holds a two-game lead over Moline and Rock Island with three games to play in the Western Big 6 Conference race. The Blue Devils travel to Rock Island Alleman on Tuesday before playing host to Moline on Friday and heading to Rocky Fieldhouse on Feb. 18.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re focused every day to make the season end the right way,” Douglas said.