QU men continue to struggle to find ways to get over hump, suffer another GLVC loss

QUINCY — While the opponent changes, the story doesn’t.

The Quincy University men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with Great Lakes Valley Conference leader Indianapolis for 30 minutes Thursday night, only to be outmuscled down the stretch in absorbing a 75-68 loss at Pepsi Arena.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by David Ejah culminated a quick 8-0 run midway through the second half to give the Greyhounds a 10-point cushion, and they never allowed the Hawks to get closer than five points the rest of the way.

The defeat was the sixth straight and the eighth in nine games to further fade playoff hopes for QU, which fell to 10-14 overall and 5-11 in the GLVC. Five of those losses have been by seven points or fewer, not that being merely competitive is any consolation.

“We’re not the team our record shows it is,” guard Isaiah Foster said. “We can compete with anybody in the league. If you look at the scores, we’re right there in every game. We have just got to finish the job. There are no moral victories.”

Shooting woes have plagued the Hawks during much of its skid, but that wasn’t the case Thursday night. They shot 45.5 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range, matching the Greyhounds basket-for-basket until the final stretch.

With leading scorer Zion Richardson limited to eight points, four other players reached double figures to pick up the slack. QU registered 11 assists and turned the ball over just seven times.

The difference was Indianapolis’ decided advantage in size and experience.

“There were some grown men out there,” QU coach Steve Hawkins said of the Greyhounds, who used six players 6-foot-6 or taller with an average weight of 225 pounds.

“Other than their obvious weight and strength advantage, we also didn’t execute defensively on about two or three possessions. And that’s what has happened to us in these games. We’re right there, we can compete with anybody, but getting over the hump has eluded us during this stretch.”

Indianapolis scored the game’s opening eight points, but QU pulled even at 18-18 on back-to-back deep 3-pointers by Nate Shockey and Jake Hamilton. The score was tied on four occasions and the lead changed hands six times in the first half.

The Hawks’ biggest lead was 28-25 after Richardson canned a jumper from the left baseline off an inbounds pass with just over six minutes remaining. They led 36-34 before Greyhounds forward Sean Craig drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to close out the scoring.

The Greyhounds went inside to open the second half. Their first 15 points came from either the paint or the free-throw line because of their ability to penetrate and draw fouls. 

Most of the damage was done by Kendrick Tchoua, their 6-foot-7, 240-pound center who was limited to just four and a half minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. He scored nine of his 15 points during that stretch.

“He had five offensive rebounds at a time when they really needed it,” Hawkins said.

Still, QU only trailed 50-48 until Tchoua put back his own miss and Ejah nailed consecutive 3-pointers from the right corner to increase Indy’s advantage to 58-48.

The Greyhounds eventually stretched the lead to 68-55 with 5:35 left before Foster answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing and then stole the ball in the frontcourt and darted down the court for a layup.

Foster, who finished with a team-high 15 points, made another 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 1:45 to go to pull the Hawks within 70-65.

After Indianapolis was guilty of a shot clock violation, Foster drove the lane in hopes of cutting the deficit to three, but his shot was rejected at the rim by 6-foot-6 Jesse Bingham, one of his four blocked shots.

Bingham then swished a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 35 seconds remaining, making Shockey’s ensuing 3-pointer too little, too late.

“We couldn’t get the stop we needed, or the defensive rebound we needed, and that was the difference in the game,” Foster said.

Mason Wujek and John Kelly III scored 12 points apiece and Shockey 11 for QU. Jarvis Walker scored a game-high 16 points and Ejah and Bingham 10 points apiece for Indianapolis, now 16-7 overall and 12-3 in the GLVC.

The Hawks host Lewis on Saturday afternoon in hopes of ending their skid in their next-to-last home game of the season.

“I feel terrible for the kids, but from a coaching standpoint, there’s reason for optimism,” Hawkins said. “We lose to Southwest Baptist by three, to William Jewell by two in overtime and to UMSL by six. Turn those three into wins and it’s a whole different feeling.

 “I know how close we are to turning the corner. Hopefully we can do that in our last four games.”