Peacocks block Hawks’ final attempt, pull off narrow GLVC victory

FAYETTE, Iowa — The opportunity for a late-season road victory that could propel the Quincy University men’s basketball team into the offseason presented itself Thursday night.

The Hawks ended up one play away.

Zion Richardson had his shot blocked by Upper Iowa’s Nick Reid with less than four seconds remaining in regulation and the Hawks down by one, and the Peacocks made three subsequent free throws to finish off an 85-81 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory at Dorman Memorial Gym.

The Hawks (11-15, 6-12 GLVC) have lost six of their last seven games and close the regular season with Saturday’s game at Truman State and a home game against Illinois-Springfield on March 2.

After two free throws by Jake Hilmer put the Peacocks ahead 82-76 with 1:25 remaining, the Hawks’ Isaiah Foster converted a three-point play to make it a one-possession game. Quincy forced Upper Iowa (17-8, 12-5 GLVC) to miss a shot with 56 seconds left and turned it into a Richardson basket to pull within 82-81 with 45 seconds remaining.

A turnover by Hilmer, who fumbled the ball out of bounds on a drive down the middle of the lane with 20.6 seconds remaining, gave the ball back to Quincy. Foster got the ball to Richardson in the left corner and he drove the baseline to the rim. Reid came down the lane to block the shot, and the rebound fell to the floor and created a scrum for the ball.

Upper Iowa’s Austin Hilmer dove on the ball and earned possession, while Quincy’s John Kelly III was called for a foul with 1.5 seconds remaining. As the officials went to the scorer’s table to review the video to see how much time was remaining, QU coach Steve Hawkins was hit with a technical foul.

Jake Hilmer made the two technical fouls and Austin Hilmer made 1 of 2 free throws to ice the victory.

Richardson led the Hawks with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Foster had 20 points and four assists and Kelly finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Jake Hilmer scored 27 points to lead four Peacocks in double figures.