EVANSTON, Ill. – The Quincy University men's basketball team opened its exhibition season with a date at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois Thursday night (Hawktober 31). The Hawks trailed by 17 headed into halftime but could not cut into that lead in the second half, falling 106-54 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Tanner Stuckman led the Hawks, finishing a rebound shy of a double-double with 24 points and 9 boards.
 
How It Happened
Aziz Fadika got the scoring started when he dropped in a layup off of a pass from Austin Downing to put the Hawks up 2-0 early on. The Wildcats responded with a 9-0 run to grab the lead. Quincy answered by cutting the lead to three when Downing slashed through the lane and found Adam Moore for another layup. 
 
The Northwestern offense proceeded to heat up, finishing the first half shooting 50% from the 3-point line. The Wildcats stretched their lead to twenty at 34-14, their largest lead of the half. The Hawks were forced to take a  timeout to stop the home team's run.
 
The Hawks came out of the 30-second timeout with high energy, trimming down the Northwestern lead. QU cut the deficit to 12 when Moore returned the favor, finding Austin Downing for two. The redshirt junior hit a floater to make the score 42-30 with just over two minutes to play. Viktor Kovacevic also contributed seven points during that span. The Wildcats went on a small run just before the half, as the Hawks trailed 50-33 at the break.

Quincy started the second half just like the first, by scoring first. Downing found Ryan Briscoe in transition for a fast break layup, making the score 50-35. Northwestern answered the exact same way they did twenty minutes earlier, by going on a 9-0 run. 

The Wildcats continued to shoot well, as the lead was too much to overcome. The Hawks fell to the Big 10 team 105-64.

Stat Leaders
Tanner Stuckman - 24 points, 9 rebounds
Austin Downing - 10 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds

Up Next
The Hawks will have their final exhibition game before the regular season at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Tuesday (Nov. 5). Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.