Hawks earn first GLVC road victory, pull away in second half behind tenacious defensive effort

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Brad Hoyt admitted watching the Quincy University men’s basketball team play defense was fun.

The offensive execution made him smile, too.

A 19-6 run over the final eight minutes of the first half gave the Hawks a lead that continued to grow over the final 20 minutes Thursday night when Drury shot just 31 percent from the field, leading to Quincy’s 92-59 victory at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.

“Any win is good. Any win on the road is really good. Any win on the road in the league is great,” said Hoyt, the first-year QU coach following the Hawks’ first Great Lakes Valley Conference victory. “I’m really proud of our guys and the way they responded.”

The Hawks (4-4, 1-1 GLVC) opened this three-game road trip with a 26-point loss at Upper Iowa, but they experienced no hangover or continued letdown.

Hoyt said the energy was good from the moment the Hawks walked in the building.

“There can’t be a hangover from this on Saturday,” said Hoyt, whose team wraps up the road trip at 3 p.m. Saturday against Missouri S&T in Rolla, Mo. “You can’t worship the winning and the losing piece of it because you’re going to play another game relatively soon.”

But the defensive effort can be consistent.

The Hawks held the Panthers to 36.8 percent shooting from the field overall and 25 percent shooting from 3-point range. Quincy owned a 38-26 rebounding advantage, allowed only four second-chance points and forced 14 turnovers.

“You use that word connected,” Hoyt said. “I thought we were as connected defensively as we were offensively, maybe even more so. Our coverages were very good. We scrambled. They paid attention may be the best way to put it.

“At this level, you can guard people as a team if you just pay attention. That was a huge advantage for us. We were tenacious, got on the glass, cleaned it up and made things easier on the offensive end by doing those things.”

The offense blossomed. The Hawks shot 56.9 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 13 assists.

Sophomore guard Jake Hamilton finished with 20 points and five rebounds, while freshman guard Max Booher had 19 points and went 5 of 6 from 3-point range. Junior point guard Ethyn Brown had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.

“We really shared the heck out of it,” Hoyt said. “Some of our best possessions didn’t even end up with points because it was the right sort of attack and the right decisions.”

Part of that is the comfortability the Hawks are finding eight games into the season.

“We played some different combinations of guys in different spots and they accepted that challenge,” Hoyt said. “It was fun to watch.”