Inconsistency keeps Hawks from being able to outlast Lakers in nonconference matchup

QUINCY — Steve Hawkins knew what was necessary to give his Quincy University men’s basketball team a chance to rally.

The veteran coach didn’t like it, but he did it.

“I feel cheap for it because that’s not how I want to try to win a game,” Hawkins said.

Still, it nearly worked.

Trailing Grand Valley State 61-55 following a three-point play by Jamaurie Coakley with 2:23 remaining in regulation, the Hawks switched to a 1–3-1 zone defense. It resulted in the Lakers committing three consecutive turnovers and the Hawks twice having the opportunity to tie the game in the final 31 seconds.

A missed shot by Zion Richardson along the right baseline and a turnover by Coakley at midcourt saddled Quincy with a 63-59 loss at Pepsi Arena.

“We have to be able and we will get to a point — I don’t know when — where we are tough enough as a team, tough enough as individuals where we will sit down and we will guard and we will keep the ball in front of us,” Hawkins said. “That will be our calling card — tough kids who can guard, that don’t shy away from contact and play within a system and play unselfish.”

The Hawks (4-5) didn’t have that from start to finish.

“Our mistakes that we make in the first half and early second half are going to come back to bite us in the end,” said junior guard Paul Zilinskas, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. “We know if we play a full 40 minutes we’re going to win the game. Tonight, we weren’t able to do that.”

Playing from behind has become a theme.

In three of the last four games, the Hawks have trailed at halftime. They rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Lewis and cap a perfect weekend to open Great Lakes Valley Conference play, but the inconsistency is rearing its ugly head.

“It was kind of the same situation we were in against Lewis,” Zilinskas said. “In that game, we were able to climb back and really execute down the stretch. This game, I felt we did that, but it was just a little too late.”

Part of that was due to allowing the Lakers to shoot 52.3 percent from the field inside the 3-point stripe and giving up 23 points and 17 rebounds to 6-foot-9 Kingsley Okanu and 6-foot-11 Marius Grazulis. Although the Grand Valley State big men typically substituted for each other, there were times Lakers coach Cornell Mann had them in the game together.

They also combined to play four shots.

“Our gameplan was to try to force (Okanu) to the baseline,” Zilinskas said after the Hawks allowed 40 points in the paint total. “Sometimes, we were just letting him get to the middle. Especially when they had 6-9 and 6-11 in at the same time, that bothered us just a bit.”

Quincy didn’t combat it with consistent offense. The Hawks shot 37 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range.

They also turned the ball over 17 times.

“Tonight, we were an undisciplined team,” said Hawkins, who also got 12 points from Richardson and 11 from Coakley. “We didn’t execute defensively, as well as offensively. There are certain principles we play with defensively and they weren’t there on a consistent basis. Offensively, we wanted to move their defense early in the clock and drive it at them late in the clock. When we did that, it worked.

“In transition, we didn’t do any of that. We didn’t fill our lanes. We had an unbalanced break. We had an unbalanced floor. There was no recognition of what the other guy was doing. It looked like a pickup game at times. It’s a reminder to me of just how far we have to go.”

Yet, there the Hawks were at the end, creating havoc with a defensive switch and giving themselves an opportunity to tie in the waning moments.

“You get a stop, and then sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” Zilinskas said. “We were hoping to not be in the position where we were fighting from behind and had to get a stop and a bucket. That’s just what it came down to tonight.”