By MATT SCHUCKMAN

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

JACKSONVILLE -- The way Quincy High School boys basketball coach Sean Taylor designed the play, Mitchel Rein should have had two options for attacking the basket.

In reality, he had only one.

After Rein caught an inbounds pass in the right corner with 5.8 seconds left in overtime Saturday night, Jacksonville cut off the middle of the floor. So Rein took the baseline, powering through Crimsons defender Ben Heaton for a layin with 1.8 seconds remaining and a 35-33 victory at the Jacksonville Bowl.

"I had full confidence in myself," Rein said. "I knew I could make it."

Seeing the baseline open made him more certain.

"I lowered my shoulder, went to the baseline and outmuscled him," Rein said. "I used my strength on him and it worked."

It finished a dramatic comeback.

Poor shooting and turnovers -- Quincy hit 29.6 percent from the field and made 19 turnovers in the first 271/2 minutes -- put the Blue Devils (13-8) in a 27-20 hole with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter.

But Quincy held Jacksonville scoreless the remainder of regulation and fought incessantly at the offensive end to muster seven points.

Shawn Blakeman scored five points, hitting two free throws at the end of a possession highlighted by four offensive rebounds that pulled Quincy within 27-25 with 2:16 to go.

Rein then scored from the block with 1:40 to go to tie the game at 27.

"You can never have a doubt in your mind that you're going to come out on top," said Rein, who finished with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting. "We always keep our heads in the game and keep focused because we know we can win in the end."

And they had to keep their focus defensively as Jacksonville held for a final shot, milking more than 90 seconds off the clock before getting a 3-point attempt from Jonathan Allan that clanged off the back of the rim.

"Our guys showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of fortitude to find a way to win," said Quincy coach Sean Taylor, whose team was outscored 12-4 in the third quarter and trailed nine of the final 101/2 minutes of regulation.

Quincy retook the lead on the first possession of overtime when Alex VonderHaar, crashing the boards from the left wing, rebounded Jordan Witte's missed 3-pointer and completed a three-point play with a scoop shot and a free throw.

VonderHaar finished with six points and six rebounds.

"The key to that was he went to the offensive glass," Taylor said. "In the past, I think he may have been soft. Here, he was aggressive. That's why he's playing more. He's becoming a man."

Witte showed the character of one. Despite a 2-for-14 shooting night and having missed the first of two free throws with 24.6 seconds left in overtime, Witte knocked down the second free throw following a Jacksonville timeout to keep Quincy ahead 33-31.

"He could have felt sorry for himself and missed both of them," Taylor said. "He steps up and hits a huge one down the stretch."

Jacksonville (7-18) answered as Alvis Berry, who led all scorers with 15 points, drove the right side of the lane for the tying layup with 9.8 seconds left.

That set the stage for Rein to play the hero's role.

"He's a gamer, he's a winner, he's got a lot of heart," Taylor said. "Use whatever description you want to use. He's a tough kid."

He simply wouldn't let Quincy lose.

"We played a pretty bad game," Rein said. "But in the end, we found a way. We just found a way."

-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366