Springfield, Ill. - The Hawks were on the road once again for more GLVC action Saturday afternoon (Jan. 11) as they took on the Prairie Stars of Illinois Springfield.

The team commenced their back-and-fourth action from the start with the first bucket belonging to the Prairie Stars on a layup from their big man, Jack Weber. Quincy would quickly answer as Jake Hamilton, playing in his hometown, hit a pull-up jumper to kick-start the Hawks offense. 

Through the first 10 minutes of action, both teams matched one another bucket for bucket, with the largest lead for either side being four. However, a ninety-second stretch saw the Prairie Stars leading scorer, Max Kunnert, score eight straight points for UIS to give them a 30-22 lead with 6:16 left in the first half. Camren Kincaid quickly answered for the Hawks with a driving layup for his first bucket of the game.

QU continued to stick around but trailed for the majority of the first-half. A quick five point burst from Hamilton and a couple of free throws from Ethyn Brown got the Hawks within single digits, trailing 39-31 after 20 minutes of action. Hamilton led all scorers with 11 points through the first half. 

The second half is where the Quincy offense began to click on all cylinders. Brown kicked things off with a three-pointer for the Hawks, one of the six threes Quincy hit in the second half. The Hawks would continue to score, beginning the second half on a 16-6 run, giving Quincy a 47-43 lead with 14:02 left to go. Coming out of the timeout, UIS answered with a three of their own, but the Hawks managed to continue to score with a pair of free throws from freshman, Max Booher, and Kincaid. The free throw line was something the Hawks took advantage of in the second half, shooting 14-15 from the line.

El Sieger had a very quiet first half only scoring three points on three made free throws, but the junior guard had other plans in the second half. With the Hawks controlling a 51-50 lead at the 12-minute mark, Sieger went on to score eight of the next ten points for the Hawks, including two rainbow threes, to give Quincy it's largest lead of the game at 61-54 with 9:43 on the clock.

Both teams continued to battle on both sides of the floor, but the Hawks were too much for the Prairie Stars offensively in the second half. A nifty move for Sieger at the rim and a pair of free throws from Hamilton and Brown solidified an 83-78 conference victory for the Hawks.

The Hawks scored 80+ for the fourth time this season after an explosive 52-point second half. Quincy was led by Hamilton with a career-high 24 points and was followed by Sieger who had 22, 19 of those coming in the second half. Brown also found himself in double-figures for the 10th time this season, scoring 16, and despite not hitting a three, Booher managed to scrape away with 10 points of his own. 

In the rebounding department, the Hawks were led by Logan Robbins for the third time this season as he pulled down eight rebounds. Brown was right behind him with seven rebounds despite giving up some size. Robbins also had another game with three blocks, he is averaging 3.3 blocks over the last three games for the Hawks. 

As a team, the Hawks shot just shy of 50%, shooting 28-57 from the field, for a 49.1% clip. Quincy shot 1-7 from beyond the arc in the first half but turned things around by shooting 6-13 in the second half, good for a three-point percentage of 35%. The Hawks would also shoot a season-best 95.2% from the free-throw line after converting 20 of 21.

Next Up

Quincy will have a week off before they return to Pepsi Arena to host Upper Iowa University on Saturday (Jan. 18) to continue GLVC action. The Hawks fell to the Peacocks earlier this season on the road with a score of 67-93. Tip-off is scheduled at 3:00 PM after the conclusion of the Hawks women's basketball game.