Quincy handles Batavia's size
QUINCY - Something unexpected happened on the Batavia boys basketball team's latest trip to Quincy.
The Bulldogs were cut down to size.
The Blue Devils neutralized the Bulldogs' size advantage with quickness and defense, forcing Batavia into 16 turnovers in the first half and going on a 9-2 run in the third quarter that salted away a 64-51 victory at Blue Devil Gym.
"The quickness and the skill, it caused us some problems," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "Their defense took us out of a lot of things. As I told our kids, I thought we rushed things at times out of some frustration. They beat us to the glass numerous times.
"When they beat us to the glass, they usually made us pay."
The Blue Devils hauled in 44 rebounds overall and 19 at the offensive end in what is becoming a theme for Class 4A's fifth-ranked team.
Quincy (5-0) has outrebounded its first five opponents by an average of nearly nine boards per game, and the Blue Devils are pulling down 16 offensive rebounds per game.
"We talk about if you're active and you constantly go, you're going to get some," said Quincy coach Sean Taylor, whose team is 5-0 for the first time in his seven seasons at QHS.
The Blue Devils go and go and go.
They had six players pull down at least five rebounds apiece as Zach Forbes and Mitch Marold each grabbed nine. Isaiah Johnson and Alex VonderHaar both had seven with Marold and Johnson combining for seven at the offensive end.
"When you go to box somebody out and it's a big guy, they are going to be there," said Forbes, who led Quincy with 21 points. "When you have to box out Isaiah, he's going to crawl between your legs or under your arm. He's going to get the ball. You'd rather box out someone that's big and there rather than a quick guy."
Batavia (4-1) had plenty of big guys.
The Bulldogs' starting lineup featured a pair of 6-foot-6 forwards and no one shorter than 6-3. In fact, Batavia has 11 players on its roster 6-3 or taller. However, Quincy neutralized that with quickness and defense.
"We figured speed beats size," Marold said.
The Blue Devils forced 16 first-half turnovers, including a stretch of four straight in the first quarter in which Quincy turned a one-point lead into a 13-5 edge. The Blue Devils pushed the lead to double digits midway through the second quarter and led 32-21 at halftime.
"Our defense is getting more and more active," Marold said. "Our big thing is defense wins our games. If we don't play good defense, we realize we won't win games.
It resulted in Batavia shooting 36 percent from the field (9 of 25) in the first half.
Quincy didn't run away with the victory, though, as a 9-4 spurt to start the third quarter pulled Batavia within 36-30. The Blue Devils answered with their own 9-2 run, capping it when Alex Miklius bypassed a 3-pointer to feed VonderHaar for a wide-open trey that put QHS up 45-32.
"That's the play of the game," said Taylor, who got 16 points from VonderHaar and 12 from Johnson. "They were making a run and we were able to stop it."
Free throws iced it. Forbes went 6 of 8 from the line in the final 2 1/2 minutes while Quincy went 10 of 13 in the fourth quarter and finished 16 of 20 from the line.
"We realize there are ups and downs in a basketball game," Marold said. "You just have to weather the storm and we did."