Prairie Stars shoot down Hawks with blistering effort from 3-point range

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Mama said there’d be days like this.

Riding the high of back-to-back victories over two of the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s top three preseason favorites, the Quincy University men’s basketball team saw its momentum stifled Thursday night by another upstart crew.

Illinois-Springfield, picked to finish ninth in the 13-team league, shot down its second consecutive GLVC foe by hitting 15 of 25 3-pointers and making 56.4 percent of its field goals overall in an 88-53 hammering of Quincy at the TRAC.

The Prairie Stars (7-1, 2-0 GLVC) came into the game ranked ninth in the GLVC in field goal shooting (45.2 percent) and 10th in 3-point shooting (35.1 percent), but they turned this affair into a rout by draining 8 of 12 3-pointers in the second half. UIS shot 70.1 percent from the field altogether over the final 20 minutes.

The Hawks (4-4, 2-1 GLVC) couldn’t answer. Quincy shot just 36.8 percent from the field and only 28.6 percent from 3-point range (4 of 14). The Hawks had been third in the GLVC in 3-point shooting at 39 percent.

After hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game, the Prairie Stars never trailed. An 8-2 run featuring a pair of 3-pointers midway through the first half gave them some separation in building a 36-27 halftime lead.

A 7-2 run to start the second half allowed things to snowball as the Hawks couldn’t string together defensive stops.

Quincy was outscored 52-26 in the second half.

Freshman guard Isaiah Foster led the Hawks with 11 points. No one else scored more than seven as Quincy had just three assists.