CEDARVILLE, Oh. – The Quincy University men's basketball team played their first game of the regular season this evening, Friday (Nov. 11) facing off against the Oilers of Findlay at Cedarville University for the GMAC/GLVC challenge.
Starting off their season against a national tourney team from a year ago, the Hawks had their work cut out for them. Although QU had several leads during the game, they were unable to come away with the neutral site victory, opening their season 0-1 with a 96-87 defeat.
The first half started off well for coach Hawkins and company as they jumped out to a five-point lead at 16-11 in the early going off a basket from
Malik Hardmon. Hardmon lead all scorers in the contest pouring in 21 points in 30 minutes.
Two minutes later the UF offensive unit took the lead back at 21-20. The remaining 10 minutes of the first half was tightly contested as the teams traded baskets back and forth until
Paul Zilinskas converted a jumper with 34 seconds left to give Quincy a 42-41 advantage, one the Hawks would take into halftime.
The second half began as close as the end of the first period. Both sides traded blows back and forth without much of a lead to show for it.
Six and a half minutes into the frame the Hawks were finally able to put a run together and start to create some distance on a three ball from Conner Davis to put them up 62-58. The Davis three pointer sparked an 11-0 run for QU opening a 67-58 edge over the Oilers with 12:25 to go.
Quincy continued to mount the pressure as the clock winded down, still holding on to their 11-point lead with nine minutes to play at 73-62.
As time ran on, Findlay began to draw closer. The Hawks kept the Oilers in check up to the 4:41 mark, preserving a seven-point lead thanks to a dunk from
Malik Hardmon off a feed from Zilinskas pulling the score to 82-75.
In the final five minutes, Findlay showed why they were a tournament team last year scoring in bunches. The Hawks couldn't buy a basket down the stretch as UF went on a 21-5 run to close out their first win of the season 96-87.
QU shot well as a unit on the night both inside and outside of the three-point arch. Shooting at a 55% clip from the field (33-60) and the three-point line (11-20) but fell short in the ever-important free throw statistic converting on 10-19 from the charity stripe in the nine-point losing effort.
The Hawks take to the hardwood once again tomorrow afternoon, Saturday (Nov.12) for a 3:15 p.m. matchup with the host Hornets of Cedarville University to finish up the GMAC/GLVC Challenge.
