Hawks will look to adjust, improve after falling to Oilers in season opener

QUINCY — Ryan Hellenthal’s description of what transpired Friday night at Pepsi Arena was quite apropos.

“Outtoughed, outdisciplined,” the Quincy University men’s basketball coach said.

The Hawks are intent on changing that.

Opening the season against a seasoned Findlay team in the GMAC-GLVC Regional Crossover, Quincy fell behind 7-0 out of the gate, trimmed the deficit to one with seven minutes remaining in the first half and then fell behind by double digits.

The second half followed a similar scenario as the deficit yo-yo’d between five and nine points for the first 10 minutes before the Oilers used a 10-1 run to make it a 16-point game and put away a 77-63 victory.

“We started out not the best and we finished off not the best,” Quincy junior forward Malik Hardmon said. “Closeouts got weaker, and they began knocking down shots. We didn’t play solid, and that hurt us.”

Those mistakes are fixable.

“We had some lapses here and there that we have to clean up,” Hawks sophomore guard Nate Shockey said. “There’s always room for improvement. We know what we have to do moving forward.”

The Hawks better find some rhythm.

Quincy missed six of its first seven field-goal attempts and committed two turnovers while falling behind 11-2 in the first four minutes. Nine consecutive points from Hardmon changed the tide, and Paul Zilinskas’ 3-pointer with seven minutes remaining in the half pulled the Hawks within 21-20.

The Oilers answered by making six of their next eight shots and held a 37-32 advantage at halftime.

“I thought there were a lot of first-game jitters for our guys,” Hellenthal said. “I thought we played hard. I didn’t necessarily think we played smart. This is a group that is going to have to learn to do that really quickly here in the non-conference.”

The Hawks need to be more dynamic offensively. They shot just 39.7 percent from the field and 25.9 percent from 3-point range, while getting to the free-throw line just three times.

“I never thought we got in the flow of the game at either end really, especially offensively,” Hellenthal said. “They got us on our heels early and we never recovered.”

Hardmon did all he could to inject life in the Hawks. The transfer from Alcorn State scored a game-high 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots.

“He’s got some firepower offensively,” Hellenthal said. “With our lack of size and physicality on the inside, he’s going to have to give us that effort every single night.”

The lack of frontcourt depth or size showed in the fact the Oilers shot 51.6 percent from the field overall and 55.8 percent inside the 3-point stripe. Findlay outrebounded Quincy just 37-32, but it scored 19 points off nine turnovers. The Hawks managed just six points off nine turnovers.

“It’s frustrating because we know we’re not doing what we need to do,” Hardmon said. “The game could have changed if we closed out better, if we were on their shooters, if we rebounded better and limited them to one shot. It’s extremely frustrating, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and go back to practice and fix these little things.”

The Hawks (0-1) will wrap up the crossover at 6 p.m. Saturday against Cedarville, which suffered an 87-80 loss to Truman State in Friday’s first game.

“We have to find a way to bounce back tomorrow and be ready to go,” Hellenthal said.

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