Inability to finish costs Hawks another chance to pick up GLVC victory

QUINCY — Deflated.

There is no better word to describe the atmosphere surrounding the Quincy University men’s basketball program after Monday night’s 90-84 overtime loss to Missouri S&T in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Pepsi Arena.

Gut-punched would work, too.

The Hawks had a nine-point lead with 4:18 remaining in regulation, but got outscored 11-2 and saw the Miners tie the game at 74 with 9.5 seconds to play when Micah Johnson buried a 19-foot jumper from the left of the top of the key.

Quincy hurriedly got the ball into the frontcourt, and after bumping off a defender, Hawks guard Mark Bradshaw Jr. missed a 16-foot jumper just above the free-throw line which would have won the game. Instead, they had to play five more minutes.

In overtime, the Miners scored four times in the paint and went 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, including Julien Smith making four straight in the final 18 seconds. It gave the Miners their first victory at Pepsi Arena since joining in the GLVC for the 2005-06 season.

“It’s a recurring theme,” said QU coach Ryan Hellenthal, whose team lost for the fifth time in the last seven games and all by six points or less. “It boils down to making smart plays down the stretch.”

After going ahead 72-63 on Charles Callier’s 3-pointer with 4:18 to go, the Hawks were unable to get a defensive stop. The Miners’ Kaden Froebe sandwiched two baskets in the paint around three free throws from Smith to make it 72-70 with 3:18 to play.

Bradshaw Jr. made it a four-point advantage with his jumper with two minutes to play, but the Miners scored in the paint nine seconds later and tied the game on Johnson’s shot.

In the final four minutes, Missouri S&T (7-9, 3-6 GLVC) went 4 of 6 from the field and scored on 5 of 7 possessions. Meanwhile, Quincy went 1 of 4 from the field, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and committed two turnovers.

“It’s not an offensive thing,” Hellenthal said. “It’s a defensive thing. We failed to get stops.”

In overtime, the Hawks (9-9, 2-6 GLVC) went 4 of 9 from the field with Paul Zilinskas scoring seven of the 10 points, while the Miners went 5 of 5 from the field.

“You just have to get stops,” Hellenthal said.

Overall, Missouri S&T shot 54.5 percent from the field, made 24 of 30 free throws and owned a 44-24 edge in points in the paint. Smith led the Miners with 26 points, while Alexander Strating went 7 of 10 from the field and had 22 points.

Bradshaw Jr. had 20 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Hawks, while Callier had 19 points and Zilinskas scored 15.