QUINCY, Ill. - The Hawks kicked off the new year hosting the newest member of the conference in the Blue Tigers of Lincoln University of Missouri on Friday evening (Jan. 3) for a GLVC contest in Pepsi Arena. 

An incredibly tight contest throughout, neither side was able to muster a double digit advantage with the entirety of the second half being played within five points. As the clock winded down, fortunes favored Lincoln, as the Blue Tigers were able to claw away a 70-69 victory over the Hawks. 

QU got off to a hot start to begin the game, building a nine point advantage in the first five minutes thanks to threes from Mason Wujek, Ethyn Brown and a pair for Max Booher. 

LU worked the deficit back down to a possession over the next couple of minutes before taking its first lead of the contest around the 10 minute mark at 23-20 before going on to take a 38-34 edge into the halftime break. 

A free throw just over a minute into the second half gave Lincoln its largest lead of the game before a Brown three and El Sieger layup evened the tally at 39-39 shortly after. 

The next 10 minutes were all played within one possession with four ties and four lead changes, finding the Blue Tigers ahead 57-53 at the end of the stretch with about seven minutes remaining. 

QU regained the lead 62-60 on a four point play from Sieger at the 4:15 mark. Following an LU three, Sieger struck again from deep on the next possession to make it 65-63 with less than three to play before another Lincoln three and a pair of free throws found the Hawks trailing by three with 1:08 remaining. 

A free throw from Brown followed by two hits from the charity stripe found Quincy trailing 70-66 with five seconds to go. 

Another Sieger three-pointer in the final moments narrowed the margin to 70-69, but with just .3 seconds to spare, the outcome had unfortunately already been decided. 

Sieger led three Hawks in double figures, pouring in 22 on 5-10 shooting while going 4-5 from deep and 8-9 from the charity stripe to go along with four rebounds. Brown added 11 with a pair of threes, a couple boards and a team-leading seven assists while Mason Wujek added 10 while going a perfect 2-2 from long range. Jake Hamilton paced the rebounding effort with six. 

Next Up

The Hawks aren't in action again until next Thursday (Jan. 9), going on the road to the Greyhounds of UIndy after impending inclement weather brought about the postponement of this Sundays (Jan. 5) contest against UMSL that was set to take place in Quincy.