Richardson’s clutch plays at both ends of floor help Hawks reverse GLVC trend with Thursday victory

QUINCY — To be the hero at one end, Zion Richardson couldn’t be the goat at the other.

He put himself in the right position to avoid that.

An errant pass by Richardson from the backcourt while under pressure from the Truman State defense gave the Bulldogs a steal and the opportunity to cut into the Quincy University men’s basketball team’s 71-68 lead with 40 seconds remaining in regulation Thursday night.

Coming out of a timeout, Truman State’s Kobi Williams got the ball above the right elbow and drove hard to the basket. Richardson slid in front of Williams, planted his feet and took a charge to regain possession.

“That was huge at a critical time in the game,” QU coach Steve Hawkins said. “That play changes a lot of things if it goes the other way.”

Some heroic free throws followed.

Fouled with seven seconds to play, Richardson sank two free throws to make it a two-possession lead and the Hawks withstood some drama in the waning moments to secure a 75-73 victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

QU’s Ibo Drame made the first of two free throws with three-tenths of a second remaining, intentionally missed the second and the clock inadvertently started before anyone touched the rebound. That gave Truman State possession with the chance for a full-court heave.

The Hawks’ Isaiah Foster punched the pass away to end the game, preserving the lead Richardson had given them.

“All I dream of is being that guy to end the game,” said Richardson, the senior guard who went 6 of 7 from the free-throw line overall as part of a 24-point, 11-rebound effort. “God willing, he let me hit two smooth free throws.”

They were smooth as silk.

“I knew they were good before I even shot them,” he said with a sly smile. “But you still have to shoot them.”

You have to find a way to carry one victory into another, too, something the Hawks finally have done in GLVC play.

Beating Truman State came on the heels of Saturday’s 16-point victory over Southwest Baptist, and it gave Quincy its first mid-week victory in conference play. Saturday, the Hawks face Upper Iowa at Pepsi Arena looking to stay perfect on Saturdays.

“I thought we got a nice monkey off our back,” said sophomore Mason Wujek, who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 25 minutes against Truman State after being limited to nine minutes against Southwest Baptist because of a cut on his chin that required stitches.

“We’ve been struggling with a roller coaster of a season so far. Now that we have something going, it might be a domino effect and we get some victories rolling.”

The Hawks simply can’t settle for a loss Saturday against the Peacocks (8-5, 3-2 GLVC), who suffered an 88-71 loss to Illinois-Springfield on Thursday.

“That would be a terrible idea,” Wujek said. “I feel if we were to do that Coach Hawk might be running us the whole week.”

There are no plans for that as long as the Hawks continue to find ways to grow and show maturity.

It started Thursday by adapting and overcoming.

Truman State (4-9, 1-4 GLVC) ripped off a 15-2 run in the game’s first six minutes, getting three of its five 3-pointers from Williams. Quincy responded with a nine-point run, stayed within five to eight points for a 10-minute stretch and went on a 13-0 run over the final 4:50 of the half to take a 33-28 lead into halftime.

“You have to make adjustments,” Hawkins said. “Where I thought we did as good of a job all season Saturday against Southwest Baptist following the scouting report defensively, tonight we did as good a job as we have following the scouting report offensively and making the necessary adjustments.”

Ultimately, that led to an 11-point lead with 12:30 to play when Anthony McGee knocked down a 3-pointer for a 53-42 edge. However, the Bulldogs battled back, going on a 9-0 run to take a 62-59 lead with six minutes to play.

Two possessions later, on the strength of a Wujek layin and a Nate Shockey three-point play, the Hawks regained the lead for good.

They maintained it by making free throws — 8 of 11 in the final four minutes — and understanding they needed to win each small battle down the stretch. 

“All week, we’ve been going through situational games, four-minute games, one-minute games, anything to get us prepared,” Richardson said. “When we were in one of those situations, we knew we could be poised because we were ready for it.”