Display of toughness allows Hawks to outlast Greyhounds in double overtime

QUINCY — The bags of ice taped to both of Nate Shockey’s ankles and the way every muscle in his body ached from exhaustion suggested he needs more than 36 hours to recuperate.

Having a victory to fall back on will speed up that timeline.

“Oh, 100 percent,” the Quincy University sophomore guard said.

And Shockey believes the momentum from a 86-84 double-overtime victory over Indianapolis in Great Lakes Valley Conference men’s basketball action Thursday night at Pepsi Arena will carry the Hawks to new heights.

“We’re over the hump,” Shockey said. “We’re going to get this train rolling.”

The resilient effort it took to beat the Greyhounds will need to be duplicated Saturday when Southern Indiana comes to town. Quincy had three starters play 44 or more minutes with Shockey never coming off the floor throughout the 50-minute game.

“This group hung together tonight,” QU coach Ryan Hellenthal said. “They’ve been through this enough times now, individually and collectively, they know someone has to step up and make a play. We had a collective group of guys wanting to make winning plays. We could have broke several times, but we didn’t.”

It earns them a limited practice Friday in hopes of saving their legs and allowing the Hawks to rejuvenate enough to handle the quick turnaround.

“I’m very tired,” said sophomore guard Paul Zilinskas, who scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 44 minutes. “We welcome some rest.”

Moreso, the Hawks relish the ability to display some toughness.

Mentally, that started before the tip.

Thursday was the homecoming for Indianapolis senior guard Cory Miller Jr., an all-stater at Unity High School and an All-American at John Wood Community College. It led to the biggest Pepsi Arena crowd of the season with people from Mendon, Ursa and JWCC packing the upper deck.

When Miller was introduced during the starting lineups, the ovation he received rocked the arena.

“There have been some crazy plays here, but that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard this place,” said Shockey, who finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. “I don’t know much about the guy, but obviously he’s a fan favorite.”

Said Zilinskas, “It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

When Miller scored the first basket of the game, the crowd stayed loud. It sparked an opening 7-3 run by the Greyhounds, which allowed them to hold the lead for the first five minutes. The Hawks responded, took the lead on Charles Callier’s three free throws and started the tug-o-war with the advantage.

Neither team led by more than eight points. They traded the lead 15 times and forged 14 times. The advantage in overtime never grew to more than four.

It’s similar to the way the Hawks (10-11, 3-8 GLVC) have played since the Christmas break with nine of their 10 games being decided by six points or less. Quincy is 3-6 in those games.

“We’re always there,” Zilinskas said. “This time we were able to finish it off.”

But not without some worry.

The Hawks trailed by four points with 33 seconds remaining in regulation when Zilinskas scored to cut the deficit in half. Following a turnover by the Greyhounds’ Dee Montgomery with 21 seconds to play, Zilinskas scored again on a drive to tie the game at 67.

Indianapolis’ Jesse Bingham missed a forced 3-pointer at the end as the game went to overtime.

Quincy went ahead by four points midway through the first overtime and held a 78-75 lead with eight seconds remaining after Jamaurie Coakley made a pair of free throws. The Hawks fouled the Greyhounds’ Josiah Tynes with 2.6 seconds to play to avoid allowing him to attempt a 3-pointer.

Tynes made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, where Indianapolis’ Kendrick Tchoua got inside position, grabbed the offensive rebound and made the putback to force a second overtime tied at 78.

“It was devastating at first,” Zilinskas said. “You don’t expect a play like that to happen. But we kept our composure. Coach told us in the huddle to keep our composure, play our game and we were going to win it in the next overtime. We just had to play our style of basketball down the stretch.”

The Hawks scored the first four points of the second overtime and led 86-84 after Miller scored in the paint. Miller, who finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, had a chance to tie the game with a short jumper in the paint with less than 10 seconds to play, but the ball rimmed out and Shockey grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled.

Although he missed both free throws with 3.7 seconds left, all the Greyhounds could do was get off a halfcourt desperation heave that missed the mark at the buzzer.

“It might be the craziest game I’ve played in during my basketball career,” Zilinskas said. “Every shot was a big shot. It was nail-biting down the stretch. The intensity was so high it might have been the biggest game of the year for us.”