Hawks find toughness to go with defensive intensity down stretch, rally to beat Tritons

QUINCY — Before Monday night was through and Quincy University men’s basketball coach Brad Hoyt put himself and his phone to bed, he shot a text message to some of his players.

It commended them for having toughness.

“There was some toughness and resilience in the second half that was needed to beat a really good team,” Hoyt said after the Hawks rallied for a 79-76 victory over Missouri-St. Louis in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Pepsi Arena. “Our resilience and toughness really showed.”

Quincy trailed by eight points with more than 5 ½ minutes remaining in the second half, but limited UMSL to just two free throws the rest of the way and no points over the final 4:36. The Tritons missed their final six field-goal attempts and committed four turnovers in that span.

“We really, really guarded down the stretch,” Hoyt said. “We made defensive plays down the stretch.”

A Joshua Bocher tip-in of a Max Booher miss and a Camren Kincaid steal and layup jumpstarted the Hawks’ closing run. Ethyn Brown’s 3-pointer with three minutes to play pulled the Hawks within 76-75, and Booher gave them the lead with his basket at the rim with 1:31 to go.

Kincaid’s two free throws with 13 seconds remaining helped seal it.

“There are times this year we may not have had that much fight to us,” Hoyt said. “We really showed some fight.”

Quincy (8-8, 3-5 GLVC) showed some balance, too.

All seven players who saw time scored between eight and 13 points with six players finishing in double figures. Jake Hamilton finished with 13 points, while Logan Robbins had 12 points and nine rebounds and Kincaid had 12 points and eight rebounds. All seven had at least one assist as well with Robbins, Booher and El Sieger collecting three assists apiece.

The Hawks finished with 16 assists against just nine turnovers.

“The design is to be able to win games like that,” Hoyt said. “It doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s what we’re trying to create here. It’s a shared mentality. We shared it at the right times and got some easy looks. I think basketball is best played when it’s played that way.”