QUINCY, Ill. – The Quincy University men's basketball team found themselves down after the first half of Saturday's (Jan. 18) GLVC matchup with Illinois Springfield, but the Hawks surged back for a 94-88 overtime victory. Redshirt junior guard Austin Downing secured a double-double, while Tanner Stuckman scored 24 points in the victory. 

1st Half
The Hawks may have been suffering from a bit of a victory hangover following Thursday night's buzzer-beating win over Lewis. Quincy shot under 35% from the field and trailed for most of the first twenty minutes. 

In the first three minutes, the Hawks fell behind 9-2 after a three-pointer by UIS. Two minutes later, the Prairie Stars lead grew to 14-3 following a layup and another made jumper from beyond the arc. 

Tanner Stuckman scored the next two buckets for Quincy to cut the UIS lead to 14-7 with 14:31 remaining in the first half. 

Two minutes later, Aziz Fadika scored down low and Stuckman knocked in a three to cut the deficit to 16-12. 

With eight minutes remaining in the half, QU gained their first lead of the game. Adam Moore came off the bench to deliver a clutch three to make the score 21-20 QU. 

Justin Warren helped push the lead to three after a drive to the basket led to two points. 

In the last seven minutes of the half the Praire Stars pulled ahead by outscoring the Hawks 22-10. When the buzzer sounded for halftime, Quincy trailed 42-33. 

2nd Half
UIS came out on the attack to open the second half. The Prairie Stars went on a 5-0 run in the first two and a half minutes which pushed the Hawks deficit to fourteen points. 

Charles Callier and Tanner Stuckman each connected on long distance shots to cut the score to 47-39 with 16:37 remaining. 

With 14:30 left, the Hawks deficit was increased to fifteen as UIS led 58-43. QU responded with an 8-0 run fueled by a pair of contested buckets from Austin Downing. 

Downing continued to make his presence felt when he knocked in a deep three with 10:07 remaining to cut the UIS lead to just six points. Quincy still trailed 62-56. 

Both teams went shot-for-shot until QU closed the gap with under six minutes left in regulation. Downing hit a jumper in the paint to make it a three point game with UIS holding a 71-68 lead. 

The Hawks continued to fight and found themselves all notched up after Ryan Briscoe nailed a three-pointer with 4:13 remaining. Austin Downing gave QU their first lead since the first half after a mid-range jumper brought the score to 72-71 with under three minutes to play. 

Free throw shooting came back to haunt the Hawks as Viktor Kovecevic made one of two attempts with forty-two seconds to play. This gave QU just a three point lead, 78-75. 

UIS took advantage with a clutch three-pointer with thirty seconds to play. 

Quincy had the last possession, but the last shot by Kovacevic did not fall and the game moved to overtime. 

Overtime
The Hawks brought the heat to start off overtime. QU opened the extra period on an 11-0 run to put themselves in a favorable 89-78 lead with 2:53 remaining. 

This burst proved to be the difference despite UIS making things interesting in the last two and a half minutes. The Prairie Stars outscored the Hawks 10-5 down the stretch, but the damage had already been done as the Hawks moved to 9-0 at home with a 94-88 victory, their fourth in a row. 

Stat Leaders
Austin Downing – 21 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks
Tanner Stuckman – 24 points, 6 rebounds

QU's Record
10-5, 4-3 GLVC

Up Next
The men will look to get their tenth home win with a rivalry matchup against Truman State this coming Monday (Jan. 20) at 7:30 p.m.