Findlay goes on late first-half run to put QU men’s basketball team in hole too big to climb out

FINDLAY, Ohio — An exasperated sigh is how Brad Hoyt summed up his debut as the Quincy University men’s basketball coach.

“I think it was the first game for a whole bunch of new guys trying to figure things out,” Hoyt said.

What the Hawks discovered is there is plenty of work to be done.

Quincy trailed Findlay 35-28 with 4:46 remaining in the first half following a Max Booher 3-pointer, only to see the Oilers go on a 12-3 run and then extend the lead to 50-33 at halftime. The Hawks never recovered, suffering a 97-79 loss in the GMAC/GLVC Regional Crossover at the Croy Physical Education Center.

“There were things that went well,” Hoyt said. “There were things that were really disorganized, which can’t happen against a really good team. They exposed us, especially on their offensive end. We had a hard time guarding consistently.

“But I think it was a prototypical first game with a whole bunch of new characters.”

That means the good came with the bad, and Hoyt believes there were signs better days lie ahead.

“We had some combinations of guys on the floor that really, really worked toward what we want and what we’re trying to do,” Hoyt said. “We had some new guys that kind of showed what we thought they were, which is good long term.

“But 100 percent, there were some encouraging pieces.”

Booher was one of those. The freshman guard made 5 of 9 3-pointers and scored a team-high 21 points. He also went 4 of 5 from the free-throw line while playing a team-high 31 minutes.

“Max played really well,” Hoyt said. “He’s done a ton of work the last three or four months, and he was absolutely a bright spot.”

Junior guard Ethyn Brown had 11 points and two assists, while junior guard Josh Boucher had 10 points and eight rebounds and sophomore guard Jake Hamilton had seven points and a team-leading four assists.

The Hawks shot 47.5 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range, but they committed 26 turnovers and let the Oilers shoot 51.4 percent from the field.

Quincy faces Cedarville at noon Saturday and will play its home opener at 7 p.m. Thursday against Hannibal-LaGrange at Pepsi Arena.