Sterling basketball falls to undefeated No. 3 Quincy in home opener

STERLING — The first three games of Sterling’s Western Big 6 Conference schedule could not have been much tougher.

The Golden Warriors hope it makes them better in the end.

Sterling fell 81-43 at Musgrove Fieldhouse to Quincy (7-0, 3-0 Big 6), the third-ranked team in Class 4A by the Associated Press.

Sterling (3-4, 0-3) hung tough early on, but the Blue Devils pulled away after the first quarter as Bradley Longcor III finished with 29 points and Keshaun Thomas had 12 points and a team single-game record 25 rebounds.

Sterling had good looks in the first half. The shots just weren’t falling. Nico Battaglia and Kaedon Phillips each led Sterling with 11 points.

“We came out against the top three teams in conference, obviously some good competition,” Battaglia said. “I think we have to use it to our advantage in the following games. And ultimately come back to be able to beat them.”

Sterling fell 77-45 at No. 5 Moline and 74-50 at Rock Island. The Rocks (7-0, 3-0) handed Moline (7-1, 2-1) its first loss on Friday, 83-72.

Sterling next plays Sherrard on Tuesday in hopes of snapping the three-game skid. The Golden Warriors shot just 14 of 52 (26.9%) from the field in the loss as both teams sent in reserves early in the fourth quarter with the clock running. Sterling also finished 7 of 27 from 3-point range.

“We’ve got to come out with the mentality right away that we want to win,” Battaglia said. “We’re not going to just roll over for anyone. ... Offensive rebounds were a big killer on us.”

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Sterling defenders AJ Coleman and Nico Battaglia block Quincy's Bradley Longcor. The action took place on Friday, December 13th at Sterling. (Brian Hurley)

Sterling was out-rebounded 47-22 and eight of Thomas’ 25 rebounds were on the offensive end.

Battaglia said simply taking smart shots and playing as a team are the main offensive focuses.

“We’re going to keep developing as a team and [playing] good competition,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep putting in the work and I think we can beat major teams like this.”

Quincy took a timeout after Thomas pulled down his 25th rebound, breaking the late Tom Lepper’s record of 24. Lepper was a longtime assistant basketball coach at Quincy and passed away last month at age 50 after a battle with brain cancer.

Thomas had 19 rebounds in the first half and grabbed his 25th with 2:48 left in the third quarter, following it up with a bucket inside.

“It means the world to me. He helped me so much,” Thomas said. “He would talk to me a certain type of way. He would help me out whenever I needed it. He was hard on us, in a loving way.

“Everything is for him this year.”