Press your luck: Hawks’ ability to disrupt Saints with full-court pressures sparks comeback victory

QUINCY — Ryan Hellenthal compared defending the Maryville men’s basketball team’s offense to a college football team staring down an option attack.

You know what’s coming and it’s your job to stop it.

“There is no heavy scheme involved,” said Hellenthal, the fifth-year Quincy University coach. “You just have to buck up and guard.”

By throwing a rarely used wrinkle at the Saints in the second half Monday night at Pepsi Arena, the Hawks figured out how to negate Maryville’s strength. They turned to a full-court press to speed up the Saints, get them out of rhythm and decrease their opportunities to back down defenders on the block and kick out for open 3-pointers.

Maryville went 1 of 10 from 3-point range in the second half as Quincy outscored it 35-16 over the final 11:30 of regulation to end a three-game homestand with an 85-77 victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

“We needed that one,” said QU senior guard Jamaurie Coakley, who finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists. “We just have to take it game-by-game, but that one there was important. We didn’t put that pressure on ourselves. We just tried to take it play-by-play, try to get a score, try to get a stop. It was simple like that.

“We tried to do the little things, make extra passes, help on defense. We didn’t say it, but we all knew this was important.”

The Hawks (11-12, 4-9 GLVC) play five of their final seven games on the road, but only three of those seven opponents have records above .500. It’s an opportunity for Quincy to string some victories together and play itself into a better seed for the GLVC Tournament.

“This was another good adversity test for this group,” Hellenthal said. “Now we take this show on the road.”

The Hawks do so knowing they can finish.

Prior to last week’s tide-turning double-overtime victory against Indianapolis, Quincy had gone 2-6 in games decided by single digits since the Christmas break. Now, they’ve won two single-digit games and done so by being the tougher, smarter team down the stretch.

Coakley, sophomore guard Paul Ziliniskas and junior forward Adam Moore combined to go 9 of 10 from the free-throw line in the final 1:49, while the Hawks forced the Saints to commit two turnovers and go 3 of 11 from the field in the final six minutes.

“At times when the game’s very close, we tend not to make free throws when we need them,” said Zilinskas, who went 8 of 8 from the line overall and finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. “We were able to finish out and cap off a good win.”

It looked like it would be more of a dogfight after the Saints shot 75 percent from 3-point range (9 of 12) in the first half and built a 48-40 lead at the break. Maryville shot 58.1 percent from the field overall in the first half.

“We knew we needed to limit their backdowns, their post-ups and their kickout threes,” Zilinskas said. “It’s the same thing every time. They’re going to try to out-tough you and back you down until you get soft until you let them lay it in or kick it out for a three. We figured it out in the second half and stayed resilient.”

Quincy needed to shake something up to make it happen.

So with less than 12 minutes to play, Hellenthal decided to switch the Hawks’ defense to a full-court press. The Saints committed turnovers on two of their first four possessions against it.

“We were looking for anything at that point to get them out of rhythm,” Hellenthal said. “They were so comfortable.”

The Saints never fell back into their comfort zone.

“We had active hands on the weak side,” Zilinskas said. “I think our 1-on-1 defense in the post improved, too.”

Maryville ended up with five players in double figures as point guard Daniel Farris had 18 points and five assists before fouling out. Quincy High School alum Jaeden Smith had 10 points and went 2 of 2 from the 3-point line in 35 minutes for the Saints.

Jalen Stamps added 11 points for the Hawks, while Charles Callier had 10.

“It boils down to some personal pride,” Hellenthal said. “We showed that in the second half.”