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Quincy hands Geneva 2nd straight loss

QUINCY - It wasn't a good weekend for the Geneva boys basketball team.

Less than 24 hours after its 26-game winning streak to start the season was snapped, Geneva was sluggish from the start in a 63-45 defeat to Quincy High School on Saturday night at Blue Devil Gym.

"We're down a couple guys, and it's tougher when we can get our rotations going like we'd like to," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "We're not going to use that as an excuse. We are who we are and this us our team right now."

Quincy sophomore guard Jaeden Smith knocked down a pair of long 3-pointers on the Blue Devils' first two possessions, and senior forward Parker Bland grabbed four offensive rebounds for eight points in the first five minutes of the game.

"Bland just jumped, grabbed it and put it right back in," Ralston said. "It's tough when you start the game 17-5 and it's not in your favor in a gym like this."

Sophomore guard Mitch Mascari knocked down a 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 1 second remaining in the opening half to trim Quincy's lead to 24-15. The Vikings (26-2) never got any closer the rest of the way.

Geneva shot just 39 percent in the game and went 10 of 22 from beyond the arc.

"We always talk about energy on the defensive side and that's an emphasis in this program," Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. "But tonight we were energetic on offense. We were able to get the ball inside and crash the glass."

Bland scored his first eight points from putback layins, and he scored 10 points in the first eight minutes to give Quincy (20-4) a 20-8 lead.

"We just knew we had to be more physical than them," Bland said. "I definitely feel like we were able to do that."

The Blue Devils made that an emphasis knowing the Vikings lost their first game of the season - at 62-20 overtime setback on Friday to St. Charles North - and could come into Quincy with more fire.

"We kind of wished we could have handed the first loss here," Bland said. "Being able to jump on them early got them down on themselves and flustered. That helped to our benefit."

Bland and Smith combined for 20 of Quincy's first 22 points. Smith scored the Blue Devils' first six points on a pair of 3-pointers well beyond the arc.

"We didn't challenge the shot very well, but maybe that was because how deep he was," Ralston said. "But the first time, OK. The second time, shame on us. The third time, what the heck are we thinking?"

Bland finished with a game-high 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds - five of those coming on the offensive end.

Smith added 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range and three assists.

Mascari led the Vikings with 15 points, while Dom Navigato added 14 points.

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