QUINCY, Ill. - The Hawks came out on the right side of a contest that featured swing after swing in the second half, taking the final one to knock out the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis 79-76 on the home hardwood Monday evening.
QU took the initiative early, building a modest 7-4 advantage by the first media break before pressing the edge even further to seven at 19-12 on a
Jake Hamilton layup around the 12-minute mark of the first half.
The Quincy lead swelled to double digits soon after on a
Joshua Bocher layup off an
El Sieger feed, finding the Hawks out in front 28-18. UMSL started to find its stride not long after as the Tritons used a 7-0 run to pull within a score at 32-30 with 5:19 left in the half.
Missouri-St. Louis looked as if it would take a slim advantage into the second half until a pair of threes from
Ethyn Brown and Hamilton gave the Hawks a 46-43 lead at the break.
UMSL kicked off the second half on a 7-0 run to move ahead 50-46, prompting an 8-0 Quincy response to press ahead 54-50 on a Hamilton jumper with 15 and change on the clock.
Later in game at the 12:16 mark with the Hawks leading 58-54, a 16-4 Missouri-St. Louis run gave the Tritons their largest lead of the contest at 70-62 with 7:20 remaining.
Trailing 74-66 with 5:46 to play, the Hawks held UMSL scoreless from the field for the remainder of the contest, surrendering just a pair of free throws as part of a 13-2 run to close the game out in style and give Quincy the 79-76 victory.
The Hawks shot 47% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc with six Hawks scoring in double figures, led by 13 points from Hamilton.
Camren Kincaid, Brown and
Logan Robbins all went for 12 points while
Max Booher and Sieger both scored 11. Bocher also added eight points off the bench as QU finished just two points shy of all players scoring in double figures.
Quincy won the rebounding battle 36-30, led by Robbins with nine boards along with eight for Kincaid. QU was also in the plus margin in; points in the paint (38-34), second chance points (11-6) and turnovers (9-13).
Next Up
The Hawks are back in action on Thursday (Jan. 23), playing host to the Cardinals of William Jewell for a 7:30 PM GLVC showdown in Quincy.
