Miscues in final minute cost Hawks as Cardinals bury game-winning 3-pointer in waning seconds

QUINCY — The combination of two mistakes led to one heart-breaking moment for the Quincy University men’s basketball team.

The Hawks led William Jewell 65-64 in the final minute of regulation Thursday night at Pepsi Arena when they whittled the shot clock to 10 seconds before point guard Ethyn Brown had the ball stolen before attempting a field goal.

With a three-second difference between shot clock and game clock, the Cardinals patiently ran their offense until a pass was knocked out of bounds with 14.6 second remaining. Coming out of a timeout William Jewell called, the Cardinals’ Jordan Jermain missed a 3-pointer from the right wing.

However, the Hawks failed to clear the defensive rebound and the Cardinals’ Kyle Scharbrough corralled the offensive board, leading to another William Jewell timeout with five seconds remaining.

Luke Jordan capitalized on it, taking a kickout from Scharbrough and burying the game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing as the Cardinals upended the Hawks 67-65 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

Quincy led the final five minutes, going up 65-60 on a Logan Robbins putback with three minutes to play.

Yet, the Hawks (8-9, 3-6 GLVC) were empty-handed on their final three possessions, missing two free throws, missing two field goal attempts and turning the ball over once. In fact, the Hawks went 1 of 5 from the field in the final five minutes.

El Sieger led the Hawks with 14 points, while Joshua Bocher and Camren Kincaid scored 10 points apiece. Quincy shot just 25 percent from 3-point range (6 of 24) and had fewer assists (13) than turnovers (14).

Jermain led William Jewell (6-12, 3-7 GLVC) with 19 points despite going 0 of 7 from 3-point range, while Jason Thirdkill Jr. had 15 points and 11 rebounds.