COLLINSVILLE – Only one team could leave Vergil Fletcher Gym undefeated Friday night.
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The Collinsville Kahoks hosted the Quincy Blue Devils in the championship game of the 39th Annual Prairie Farms Holiday Classic. It was one of the most anticipated games in all of the state as both teams were ranked in the top 10 in IHSA Class 4A by the Associated Press.
The game with tremendous hype surrounding it delivered on every aspect as the hosts took down Quincy 44-39. It was the Kahoks’ sixth Holiday Classic title as they improved to 16-0 on the year. The Blue Devils suffered their first loss and fell to 14-1.
Friday night’s game was fast from the start with the teams trading scores.
Jamorie Wysinger opened the scoring, but Quincy’s Ralph Wires sunk a three to go ahead. Zach Chambers put a shot up and in to regain the lead before Quincy pulled away.
Quincy’s big man Keshaun Thomas scored followed by Camden Brown’s three to go ahead 7-4. Shortly after that, each team received a technical foul as some words were exchanged right in front of the Quincy bench. Collinsville’s Chase Reynolds and Quincy’s Bradley Longcor III were penalized, and the game moved on.
Chambers made it 7-6 and then 9-8 after an emphatic dunk from Nick Horras’ perfect bounce pass, but the Kahoks still trailed 11-8 after the first quarter.
Chambers opened the second quarter with another basket followed by Stanley Carnahan’s rebound and put back to regain the lead at 12-11. From there the teams exchanged blows and the game was knotted up at 18-18 at halftime.
Collinsville’s Horras, the team’s leading scorer, did not score in the first half as the team went 0-for-5 from three-point land.
Thomas opened the second half scoring for Quincy to take a 20-18 lead, right before the Kahoks went on a 7-2 run.
Wysinger sunk the team’s first three followed by Evan Wilkinson’s basket and Reynolds’ rebound and score as Collinsville went up 25-22. Wires went the other way and sunk a clutch three-pointer to get the game tied back up at 25-25.
Longcor III made another three followed by Tyler Sprick’s basket, but Horras’ first basket of the game, in the final minute of the second half, made it a one-point game again. Quincy led 30-29 after three quarters.
Horras took a trip to the foul line to start the fourth, sinking both free throws to regain the lead at 31-30. Tyree Brister picked up a steal and scored in transition, but Quincy’s Dom Clay went the other way and made it 33-32, Kahoks still in the lead.
Collinsville used a 7-0 run that just about put the game to bed. Wysinger drilled a three and then a pull-up jumper on the next possession followed by another basket from Chambers at the rim to go up 40-32. It was the biggest lead for either side all night.
Brown made a basket and one to make it 40-35 with 1:55 left. After Wysinger missed both free throws after being fouled, Quincy took it the other way and sunk a three to make it a one-possession game at 42-39 with less than a minute.
But Horras made two free throws at the other end in the dying seconds to get it to the final score of 44-39 as Collinsville handed Quincy its first loss of the season.
Quincy felt heartbreak for the third year in a row at the Holiday Classic. It was the second straight year the Blue Devils have lost in the final. In 2021 the Kahoks beat Quincy in the third-place game as well. Quincy has won the tournament four times, having last won it in 1997.
It was Collinsville’s first Holiday Classic win since 2019 and its sixth all-time. The Kahoks won in previous seasons in 1990, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2019, and now 2023.
“Just to win our tournament, it’s just so hard,” Collinsville head coach Darin Lee said. “It means a lot to our community, to our program. We get our name forever on that banner.”
“For these kids, they’ve really worked hard. They work at their game. They all deserve it, especially these three seniors. They’re all great leaders,” Lee continued.
Those three seniors are usually the top three scorers, and they were again against Quincy.
Chambers went to work all night in the paint and ended up with 14 points while Wysinger made a couple of shots from deep and was smooth in transition in scoring his 12 points.
Horras ended up with six points, Reynolds and Carnahan each scored four, and Brister and Wilkinson each scored two.
Quincy’s Wires was the team’s only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Clay scored nine and Longcor III had eight.
“It’s so surreal,” Wysinger said while carrying around his tournament MVP award. “I thought about this moment for four years. I’ve been coming up here, watching people play. It’s a dream come true.”
Wysinger averaged 16.3 points per game during the four-game tournament. Senior teammates Horras (14.3 PPG) and Chambers (13.3 PPG) were right there every step of the way.
“It means a lot,” Chambers said regarding the tournament win. “The whole town came out and supported us. It really brings out everybody. It’s an amazing environment for all the teams and the younger kids that come out and see us play, and I really enjoy it.”
Wysinger, Horras, and Chambers were all three named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts.
As if fighting for a tournament title wasn’t enough, add in a little bit of bad blood from last year.
It was Quincy who ended Collinsville’s season last year in the regional finals by a score of 53-47. Quincy went out the next round to O’Fallon.
Everyone knew that the game between the two unbeatens was going to be a spectacle.
“It delivered. It was a great final, two great teams,” Lee said.
“We wanted Quincy the whole time,” Wysinger said. “We really thought about that loss last year that we took to them. We dwelled on it for a minute, but we worked on defense, and I feel like that gave us success today.”
“This is a great game,” Chambers said, “but we’ll see them again, hopefully.”
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