Loss to Missouri Valley negates QU men’s basketball team’s momentum heading back into GLVC play

QUINCY — There is no time for the Quincy University men’s basketball players to dwell on defeat or lick their wounds.

The Hawks have two days to regroup, regain their focus and rally together.

Four Great Lakes Valley Conference games in eight days await, and the schedule is not kind. Following Thursday night’s 84-81 loss to Missouri Valley College — an NAIA program from the Heart of America Athletic Conference — the Hawks have to prepare to head to Maryville on Sunday.

Then comes Truman State at home Tuesday, Southwest Baptist at home next Thursday and a trip to William Jewell next Saturday. Those three teams are a combined 6-1 in GLVC play and 22-8 overall.

“We have a gauntlet coming up,” QU junior forward Adam Moore said. “Nothing easy.”

Taking some momentum into such a stretch would have been nice.

A disappointing effort defensively, according to QU coach Ryan Hellenthal, negated that. Quincy allowed Missouri Valley to make nine 3-pointers, shoot 49.2 percent from the field and bury two treys in the final 30 seconds of regulation to pull off the upset.

“At the end of the day, we weren’t good enough defensively,” Hellenthal said.

The Hawks (7-5) led 78-76 with 1:10 to go before the Vikings’ Jace Lance made a pair of free throws. A missed jumper by Mark Bradshaw Jr. gave possession back to Missouri Valley, and following a timeout with 40 seconds to play, the Vikings’ Hayden Sprenkel drilled a 3-pointer from 30 feet away to take the lead.

Quincy answered as Moore buried a 3-pointer from the right wing in front of the Hawks’ bench with 10 seconds remaining to tie the game at 81 and potentially set up overtime.

“Not a chance was I thinking overtime with the way they shoot the ball,” Moore said. “The only thing I was thinking was I have to get the rebound here when they miss the shot. As we all saw, he didn’t miss the shot.”

Lance dribbled into the front court and drained a 27-foot jumper from the top of the key for an 84-81 lead with eight-tenths of a second remaining.

“They’re hard learners,” said Hellenthal, who got 17 points off the bench from Jalen Stamps and 16 points and nine rebounds from Malik Hardmon. “We talked for two days about what this team was — a good shooting team that can make plays going downhill. We didn’t have any answer for them.

“In situations like this, you have to own it. We have to be accountable to ourselves and look ourselves in the mirror. We didn’t get the job done tonight.”

The Hawks took a timeout and Moore threw a baseball pass from the far endline, which sophomore guard Nate Shockey caught on the right wing. His desperation shot hit the backboard but never drew iron.

“Obviously, losing sucks,” Moore said. “We have to flip the page on this.”

Quincy had won three straight games prior to the Christmas break, but that momentum is gone now.

“It’s disappointing in that respect,” Hellenthal said. “We just didn’t follow through tonight.”