QU men end season on positive note as strong second half leads to victory over UIndy

QUINCY — The last impression is the one that lingers.

The Quincy University men’s basketball players were well aware of that.

“How is it going to end?” junior guard El Sieger said. “Is it going to end just by losing? Or are we going to compete and win? I think it was definitely good going into the offseason knowing we’ve got the right attitude to go and fight and win. Definitely.”

Despite the midseason struggles that took the Hawks out of postseason contention and left them playing out the string the final two weeks, they saw Saturday’s regular-season finale as a springboard into the offseason and they played with the gusto it’s going to take to turn the program around.

The Hawks overcame a lackluster start — they trailed Indianapolis 10-0 more than three minutes into the game — to trail by only two points at halftime before a dynamite defensive effort in the second half led to an 89-77 victory over the Greyhounds in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Pepsi Arena.

“Before the game, (QU coach Brad Hoyt) was like, ‘Despite us not having something on the line, it felt like there was something on the line,’” said Sieger, who scored a game-high 27 points. “That was a big thing for us. To finish out the year like this, it was about having the mentality to play hard, play as a team, play together, even if it is one last time.”

And finishing the season with 10 victories sounds so much better than finishing with nine.

“Absolutely,” Sieger said. “Absolutely.”

The Hawks (10-18, 5-15 GLVC) won two of their final three games — both at Pepsi Arena — despite losing starting point guard Ethyn Brown to injury and not knowing how the offseason is going to unfold.

Hoyt and his staff have been at the helm for less than 11 months and have a better grasp of what it takes to win in the GLVC. That should reflect itself in recruiting, development and retention of the current roster.

All of those things could have been looming over the Hawks, but they chose to play for the day and not worry about what comes next.

“It’s a testament to our guys and their resiliency to win two of the last three in a tough week, a weird week,” Hoyt said. “It says a lot about the character of them, and we’re really, really proud they were able to win their last two games here in Pepsi Arena.”

Quincy led by nine during a timeout with less than 12 minutes remaining in regulation when Hoyt heard some encouraging words.

“We got to a timeout and they were like, ‘We’re not losing this thing,’” Hoyt said. “That’s good to hear. As a coaching staff, we haven’t always felt or heard that. So that part was really good. And they showed some resiliency.”

The Hawks held the Greyhounds to 31.4 percent shooting in the second half as Indianapolis made just 2 of 16 3-pointers. Meanwhile, the Hawks shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the half, 53.3 percent overall and owned a 42-34 rebounding edge.

All of that came after committing five turnovers and missing three shots in the game’s first four minutes. Quincy didn’t score until Max Booher buried a 3-pointer with 16:15 remaining in the first half.

“Today was kind of an illustration of how the year has gone,” Hoyt said. “At times, we’ve played really, really well and we’ve struggled at times.”

Yet, they found a way to win. Camren Kincaid finished with 15 points, six assists and six rebounds, while Booher, Tiernan Stynes and Joshua Bocher had 13 points apiece.

“Hopefully they walk out of here feeling like we put it together one last time,” Hoyt said.

Now the work turns to building the future, a process that began long ago but picks up steam beginning at 8 a.m. Monday.

“We have to get into our first cycle,” Hoyt said. “We have to get into our first spring, our first offseason with what we want to do in place. We have to find things from the past four or five months we can build on. We have to continue to fight to get the right pieces of the puzzle together.”