The Galesburg boys basketball team’s 63-51 home victory over Quincy Feb. 6 was more than just its 16th win of the season.

The win, which moved the Silver Streaks to 16-11 for the season, clinched a winning season for first-year head coach Taylor Thiel and ended a nine-game losing streak to the Blue Devils.

Ending a drought

“I’m really happy for the senior class,” Thiel said. “They’ve battled through their career here. Not only not having beat Quincy, but not having any winning seasons. And to get both on the same night against Quincy in your home gym, I was super proud of them. They were super excited, and yeah, I couldn’t be more happy for them.”

At 7-16, Quincy was not as dominant as in past years, but the Blue Devils challenged the Streaks for most of the third quarter.

Seniors reflect on the moment

Two of the players from those past four years are Tobi Kivunina and Leslie Kelley. They had mixed emotions about the senior year coming to an end.

“It feels crazy,” Kivunina said. “It feels like yesterday I was saying, ‘Dang, I have four years to go,’ and it felt like it was going to be the longest four years of my life. And in a matter of a couple of months, I’m graduating; in a matter of a couple of weeks, I’m finishing basketball.”

Kivunina said the last few years haven’t been great for Galesburg basketball, but with a new coach and new faces, the team’s mindset has changed.

“We all wanted something different this year,” he said. “And for us seniors, we wanted to set the pathway for the younger guys. So, once we leave, they know they have something to look up to and know we started a culture instead of just ending it at us.”

Kelley said he would remember the special moments and relationships he had made during his time with the team.

“It’s insanely sad,” he said of the end of his final season. “It’s been so fun with the guys, like the relationships I’ve made. I mean, I still got those bonds I made my freshman year. And these seniors I’m with, these sophomores I’m with, I’ll always be with them the rest of my life.”

Kelley said injuries and illness had limited his playing time this year, but he would remember the year’s special moments.

“I love these moments that I have, like tonight getting a great win against Quincy,” he said. “The first win against Quincy in my whole career in varsity. And, I don’t know, it’s just those memories that you make that I’ll remember forever.”

Back-and-forth first half

Galesburg seemed to have the upper hand, but Quincy hung on. The Streaks jumped out to a 16-5 first-quarter lead, thanks in large part to seven points on free throws. Keigen Crummer scored four of those and added a field goal. Eden Mayala offered field goals and a pair of free throws. The two were consistent scorers throughout the game.

That dominance continued into the second quarter, until Parker Douglas broke out with 11 of his 13 points. The Streaks maintained a six-point lead in the final moments, but a 9-0 run by the Blue Devils tied the score at 31-31 to end the half.

“Quincy’s well coached,” Thiel said. “(Coach Andy) Douglas gets his guys to play hard. And it’s always a rivalry game. It puts a little extra behind the players. So, we may have them outmatched a little bit, maybe a little bit more size, besides their one guy. But rivalry games do that. They’ll bring out the best. They bring out the competitor in us.”

“All of us, all 15 guys in the locker room, wanted it really bad because we wanted to beat Quincy,” Kivunina said. “We haven’t beat Quincy in a really, really long time, and we wanted to make sure that it’s a statement win at home, in Thiel gym, for the coach, for the seniors, and all. I think it was just one of those things where all guys, everybody on the team knew that we couldn’t let up.”

Defense fuels second-half surge

Thiel said he made some adjustments at halftime, and the players responded. The defense tightened, keeping Quincy from getting some of the shots that kept it in the game in the first half.

“We’ve had a habit of letting those teams in the game, even though we should put them away within the first half,” Kelley said. “And we ended up then putting them away with our constant defensive energy and our ability to stop them. They were in the same play over and over again. And we were able to stop that and play team basketball like we have been, like Galesburg should be.”

The Streaks held Quincy to five points in the third and took an eight-point lead, 44-36, into the fourth quarter.

Closing it out at the line

In an attempt to get back into the game, the Blue Devils relied on fouls to send the Streaks to the line and hope for the best. But the Streaks hit 12 of 17 free throws to hold Quincy at bay. Crummer was 5 of 6 on free throws and Cesaire Bile was 4 of 4.

“A lot of the execution and our focus was getting the ball inside and getting penetration, which Keigen was able to do, and get to the rim, get some buckets and get some floaters,” Thiel said. “And Eden (Mayala), of course, had a monster game again inside. When he turns and faces and has the ball in the lane, he’s pretty tough to stop. He got their big guy in some early foul trouble, and then got his backup in foul trouble.”

Looking ahead

Galesburg has three Western Big 6 games remaining. It plays at Sterling Feb. 10, hosts Moline at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 and travels to Geneseo Feb. 17 to end the regular season.

After that, the Streaks look to see what happens in the postseason.

“Obviously, when you’re approaching your regional, you want to be playing your best basketball,” Thiel said. “This was a step in the right direction, especially going inside at halftime against this team, and the way we responded and came out and put together that effort in the second half is a great step.”

Galesburg scoring: Crummer 25, Mayala 22, Bile 10, Rahkim McCellan 6.

Douglas led Quincy with 13 points, all in the first half, while Juelz Clausell and Brennan Lepper each had 9 points.