Steal and score by Sieger in closing seconds puts exclamation point on Hawks’ comeback

QUINCY — El Sieger figured out Jaden Taylor’s modus operandi.

So when the Missouri Southern basketball team’s leading scorer decided to attack off the dribble and headed toward the left elbow, Sieger knew where to be and how to react.

“I just recognized he had finished over a couple of people before, so likely he wasn’t going to pass that ball the next time,” said Sieger, the Quincy University junior guard who is a transfer from Morton College. “I kind of waited for my opportunity when he cut to the left. I just waited to see that ball. Once I saw that ball, I took it and ran with it.”

Sieger’s steal with seven seconds remaining in a tie game resulted in a fastbreak that ended with him finishing at the rim as he was fouled. Sieger made the resulting free throw with 1.1 seconds remaining, lifting the Hawks to a 71-68 come-from-behind victory Saturday night at Pepsi Arena.

“I’m just seeing the rim and seeing my teammate (Jake Hamilton) coming down,” Sieger said. “I’m thinking about what’s the best option. If he would have gotten a little bit more in front of me, it probably would have been a pump fake pass off to the teammate.

“I got into the mode where I’m going to accept the contact and go finish on the rim.”

It finished the most tenacious and tough effort first-year QU coach Brad Hoyt has seen from his crew four games into this season.

“It’s a good win for a lot of reasons,” Hoyt said. “We had some guys make some individual plays, but more importantly, we showed some collective toughness and some collective resiliency. Early in the season, you’re trying to put yourself in those situations to see how you react.

“I thought our guys reacted really, really well.”

The Hawks (2-2) showed some backbone.

Missouri Southern took a 56-46 lead with a little less than 10 minutes to play in regulation before Quincy started chipping away. Junior point guard Ethyn Brown scored eight consecutive points and Hamilton finished in the lane with 4:47 remaining to cut the deficit to 60-56.

The Hawks finally tied the game at 62 on Camren Kincaid’s basket with 2:27 to play and then traded baskets before Hamilton scored on a runner in the lane with less than a minute to play to tie the game at 68.

Sieger’s steal and game-winning three-point play followed.

“He has a different gear when he’s ready to do that,” Hoyt said. “He made the right play.”

Defensively, the Hawks made enough plays. They limited the Lions to 7-of-16 shooting over the game’s final 10 minutes and forced seven turnovers. Missouri Southern committed just eight turnovers prior to that.

“We started stacking our rhythm on defense,” Sieger said.

That comes trust and synchronicity.

“When the guys on the court are on the same page and we’re moving defensively as a unit, that’s a huge deal,” Sieger said. “That allows people to be more aggressive and try to pressure people into making mistakes and they know they have somebody behind them who is going to help them out.”

Brown led the Hawks with 15 points, while Hamilton had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, Logan Robbins had 12 points and Sieger had 10 as the Hawks won back-to-back home games.

“Anytime you can string a couple together — very different games, very different personnel, very different leaders — it’s good because you can build on it,” Hoyt said. “We’re not going to worship winning or losing. We’re going to worship our ability to get better, and we got better tonight.”