COLLINSVILLE – For the third consecutive season, the Alton High School boys basketball team’s season ends at the hands of the Quincy Blue Devils.
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The streak began in the 2022-23 season when the two teams met in the opening round of the Collinsville Holiday Tournament when Quincy won 67-41. They met again in the regional semifinals hosted by the Blue Devils; Alton lost 71-42.
And then last season, the one that hurts the most. Alton had a 47-46 lead in the dying seconds of a regional semifinal at Edwardsville, but turned the ball over after an inbound play went wrong, allowing Quincy the go-ahead basket as time wound down to win 48-47.
On Tuesday night, the two met in the IHSA Class 4A Collinsville Sectional semifinals and an off night from the Redbirds saw them fall 56-33.
“There were some things that went on between both teams,” Alton head coach Dylan Dudley said of the rivalry. “I think from three years ago, when they beat us bad, both times. Last year they stole one. These kids have battled Quincy their entire lives from middle school to here. So, it was personal; and they won.”
“They beat us fair and square,” Dudley said. “They out-toughed us, out-coached us, out-played us, so they deserve to win. But we’ll be back on this stage, I know for a fact.”
The Redbirds end the season at 26-7, the most successful season in 10 years dating back to a 27-5 campaign in 2014-15.
Quincy (30-3) advances to Friday’s sectional final against Normal Community (27-6) at 7 p.m. inside Collinsville’s Vergil Fletcher Gym.
Alton’s Semaj Stampley and Alex Macias opened the game with back-to-back baskets to go ahead 4-0, but from there, Quincy closed the first quarter on a 10-3 run to take the lead at 10-7.
The Redbirds were held to just a single basket from Stampley during the second. The Blue Devils opened the frame on a 12-0 run.
Quincy big-man Keshaun Thomas scored seven of those points with two baskets and the game’s first three-pointer to make it 22-7.
Right after that basket, the Blue Devils went down a man when Kameron Wires had to be helped off the court with an apparent ankle injury. He never returned to the game.
His replacement was Milton Whitfield. He scored the final basket of the half to give Quincy a commanding 24-9 lead.
“I hate to use the term ‘next man up’ because it kind of signifies that, ‘Oh, we’ll move on from him, next guy step in,’ but in a sense, that’s what it has to be,” Quincy head coach Andy Douglas said.
“We had been talking with Milton [Whitfield] a lot in the first quarter. . .and he was ready. You could see the look in his eyes on the bench. He was ready to go, he was ready for that moment to step into the spotlight, and he did a phenomenal job,” Douglas said.
Whitfield finished the night with 10 points. He was one of four double-digit scorers for Quincy. Dom Clay led all scorers with 15 points, Bradley Longcor III had 12, and Thomas had 11.
The Blue Devils frustrated the Alton offense all night. The Redbirds hadn’t been held to under 45 points once this season. They’ve only been held to 50 or less four times.
“It took us a while to settle into how they’d guard us, credit to their coaching staff,” Dudley said. “They threw a game plan at us that we didn’t think they would, not one we hadn’t seen. And I think that’s the most disappointing thing for me. They staggered us by how they were playing, and we didn’t respond for whatever reason, and I take full responsibility for that. But they beat us fair and square.”
Stampley was Alton’s lone double-figure scorer with 13 points. Kobe Taylor had seven, Hassani Elliot had four, and Ryan Howard had three. Ka’Nye Lacey, Tahj’Juan Smith, and Macias each scored two points.
“The big things were trying to take their top two players out of it and make it as difficult as possible for them to score,” Douglas said. “You’re not going to stop Stampley from putting it in the hoop, he’s too good of a player, but we made everything as difficult as possible for him.”
“We rebounded the ball extremely well, we executed our offense not to perfection, but pretty well. I thought the biggest thing was all our guys played a role,” Douglas said.
The Blue Devils maintained a 15-point lead after three quarters at 38-23 and used an 11-0 run in the fourth to seal Alton’s fate.
“I thought the key to the game was which team was going to punch each other in the face first,” Dudley said. “And they punched us, and it just took us too long to respond. Credit to them. They deserve to win the game.”
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