Galesburg falls to Quincy: 'It was a really, really, really fun 31 minutes and 59 seconds'
GALESBURG — In their final possession in each quarter, a member of Galesburg High School's boys basketball team shot a 3-pointer in Western Big 6 Conference action against Quincy at John Thiel Gym.
The Silver Streaks made 3 of 4.
Senior point guard Jeremiah Babers missed a step back attempt from the top of the arc in the fourth quarter as time expired which would have given Galesburg the win.
Instead, the Silver Streaks fell to the Blue Devils 55-53.
"This game is going to be looked at by me for a really long time. It was a really, really, really fun 31 minutes and 59 seconds," Galesburg coach Chad Thompson said. "I will live with the two big names on our team taking game winning shots all day. We ran some action to try to get them to chase Ian (Dominique) so JB could read the option of him or Koen (Derry). He made the right read. Koen was covered up. They didn't chase Ian. They matched up out of it. JB hit that same move at Rocky twice. That little side step 3 and unfortunately it didn't go in.
"We're living with him making those decisions all game long." Thompson added. "JB is a big moment player. The shot didn't fall. All credit goes to them. They did a great job of covering up the action we were running and we'll live with our point guard taking that shot. The read was the right one for the moment."
Quincy led after a quarter
Junior Easton Steck opened the contest with five straight points to give the Streaks (15-4, 4-3) an early advantage over the Blue Devils (16-3, 7-0).
Quincy responded with its own 5-0 run in the game, which saw the lead exchanged a dozen times.
Derry went to work in the paint with 4:50 left in the first and scored to give Galesburg an 8-5 lead. The Blue Devils went on a 10-0 run from there for a 15-8 lead with 2:18 left in the quarter.
The Streaks closed the first with a 9-3 run against the Blue Devils. With 54.2 seconds left in the quarter, Dominque drained a 3-pointer and Galesburg was ahead 17-15.
Freshman Bradley Longcor made a bucket for Quincy with 27.3 seconds left in the first and the affair was knotted up at 17-all. Freshman Keshaun Thomas was fouled as the quarter closed, and he made the second of a pair of free throws for an 18-17 Blue Devils lead.
Game featured 'Hard plays after hard plays'
Both squads exchanged buckets back-and-forth throughout the contest. Babers banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the second, and the Streaks clung to a 32-31 advantage.
A 3-pointer at the buzzer from Derry is how the third stanza closed out, and the game was knotted up at 45-all heading into the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils outscored the Streaks 10-8 in the final eight minutes to grab the win.
Derry had a game-high 18 points, five rebounds and five blocks, and he was the only Galesburg player in double figures.
Senior point guard Terron Cartmill finished with 13 points — nine came from beyond the perimeter — to lead Quincy. Thomas chipped in a dozen points, and senior Jeremiah Talton — the WB6's leading scorer with an average of 24.2 points per game — ended up with 10 points.
"This was a great high school basketball game. It was just hard plays after hard plays. It was both teams coming at each other back-and-forth," Thompson said. "Quincy is going to be terrifying for a long time because of how young they are. They're going to be absolutely terrifying. Those freshmen can flat out play and they're led by a great senior but at the same time we're led by some pretty great seniors ourselves. We've got a couple of exciting young players, as well.
"These are going to be some good battles in the years to come," Thompson added. "I'm proud of the way our guys fought tonight. We've got to make a couple plays — a layup here, one stop there. We held Talton to 10 and Longcor to eight so you like your odds in a game like that. We came up one basket short."
Steck continues to grow
Steck ended up with nine points — seven of them were scored in the first half — and he's steadily improved as the season has gone on.
"I love the way Easton plays basketball. I love the way he plays baseball, too, but I really love the way he plays basketball and the way he's continued to grow as a basketball player," Thompson said. "He takes great shots from the 3-point line. He's a great offensive rebounder, and he's kind of slid into that role of guarding the other teams best perimeter player so we can keep Alex (Egipciaco) on the floor longer.
"Easton never backs down from match ups against bigger guards. He never backs down from a challenge," Thompson added. "I know we didn't win the game but he stepped up and won a lot of those battles. By doing that over and over again, it's going to pay off for us in February and March."
Thompson happy with Streaks' D
While his team didn't grab a victory, Thompson was content with the way his Streaks played on the defensive end of the hardwood. Holding Quincy's best two scoring threats in Longcor and Talton to 18 points collectively says something.
"I love the way we guarded. I love the way we executed the game plan defensively. We did a pretty good job taking away their best two options but at the same time they had guys step up," Thompson said. "I thought their little senior point guard (Cartmill) stepped up and was huge for them. He hit some big 3s when we were helping off him.
"I really like the way we moved as a team and our man-to-man defense. It was kind of back to moving as one, grinding it out, pursuing the ball. We did that tonight," Thompson added. "Offensively, I liked our shot selection. We missed some shots but that's part of the game. I thought our shot selection was really good.
"We've got to limit some of our turnovers and we did a little panicking in the mid-court area against their zone. We've got to cut that out because we see a lot of full court zone in our conference."
Galesburg on two-game skid
The loss to Quincy was Galesburg's second straight defeat. The Streaks were upended by the Rock Island Rocks 84-63 on Tuesday night.
"We fell short two games in a row but for all 64 minutes you'll never question how hard every single player on this team played. You'll never question that they stayed together and a team like that is scary," Thompson said. "They continue to stay together at any low point."
Around the Western Big 6
In East Moline, United Township beat Geneseo 78-37 on Friday evening. Moline topped Alleman 99-49 at Don Morris Gym, and Rocky went on the road and edged Sterling 59-49.
Galesburg's schedule
Wed., Nov. 24: Galesburg 73, Dunlap 64
Fri., Nov. 26: Galesburg 63, Madison 44 (Thanksgiving Tourney)
Sat., Nov. 27: Galesburg 72, Limestone 54 (Thanksgiving Tourney)
Fri., Dec. 3: Moline 77, Galesburg 59
Tue., Dec. 7: Galesburg 65, Sterling 61
Fri., Dec. 10: Galesburg 59, United Township 55
Mon., Dec. 13: Galesburg 57, Peoria Manual 50
Tue., Dec. 14: Galesburg 76, Burlington 66
Fri., Dec. 17: Galesburg 76, Geneseo 46
Sat., Dec. 18: Galesburg 60, Bettendorf (Iowa) 56 at Iowa/Illinois Shootout,
Tue., Dec. 21: Galesburg 70, Kewanee 48
Mon., Dec. 27: Galesburg 63, Decatur Eisenhower 46 at Taylorville Holiday Tourney,
Tue., Dec. 28: Galesburg 76, Mt. Zion 58 at Taylorville Holiday Tourney
Tue., Dec. 28: Galesburg 53 Taylorville 45 at Taylorville Holiday Tourney
Wed., Dec. 29: Sterling 48, Galesburg 47 at Taylorville Holiday Tourney
Wed., Dec. 29: Galesburg 61, Dunlap 58 at Taylorville Holiday Tourney (3rd place game)
Fri., Jan. 7: Galesburg 73, Alleman 32
Tue., Jan. 11: Rock Island 84, Galesburg 63
Fri., Jan. 14: Quincy 55, Galesburg 53
Sat., Jan. 15 vs. Gary Comer College Prep, 11:30 a.m. (MLK Shoot-out)
Sat., Jan. 15 vs. Chicago Orr, 7 p.m. (MLK Shoot-out)
Tue., Jan. 18 at Morton, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 21 at Moline, 7 p.m.
Tue., Jan 25 vs. Sterling, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 28 at United Township, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 29 vs. Richwoods at Manual Shootout, 2:30 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 4 at Geneseo, 7 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 8 vs Rock Island, 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 11 vs Alleman, 7 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 15 at Quincy, 7 p.m.
Matthew Wheaton can be reached at (309) 315-6073 or at mwheaton@register-mail.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthewlwheaton
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: IHSA Basketball: Takeaways from Galesburg boys team's 2-point loss to Quincy
