Stocking stuffers: Hawks finish strong, upend Panthers, carry momentum into break

QUINCY — No matter what the Quincy University men’s basketball players find wrapped beneath their Christmas trees, it may pale in comparison to what they received Sunday.

They were blessed with the gift of momentum.

By outscoring Davenport 18-6 over the final 5 minutes, 17 seconds of regulation, the Hawks head into the holiday break riding a three-game winning streak and with the championship of the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Holiday Classic after a 91-81 victory at Pepsi Arena.

“A win like that is most definitely a great Christmas present,” junior guard Mark Bradshaw Jr. said.

Quincy is 7-4 overall, has scored more than 90 points in each of its last three games and will enjoy the NCAA-mandated seven days off knowing they have their best pre-Christmas record since 2016.

“They earned this break. They sure did,” QU coach Ryan Hellenthal said. “I’m happy to see them have success, but we are nowhere near a finished product. We have to continue to get better, and I still think our best basketball is ahead of us.”

The ability to handle adversity is a reason for optimism.

Davenport raced to a 13-3 lead in the first seven minutes as Quincy made only 1 of its first 13 field-goal attempts. The Hawks’ second field goal didn’t come until the 12:50 mark when Jalen Stamps drove the right side of the lane. Stamps then hit a 3-pointer with 10:48 to go in the first half to inject some life into the QU offense and its bench.

“Jalen kept us in this game,” Hellenthal said of the junior point guard who had 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench.

And when Nate Shockey got rolling, it changed the game.

Shockey’s 3-pointer with 8:40 remaining in the half tied the game at 17, and his trey 30 seconds later gave the Hawks their first lead at 20-19. He hit two more 3-pointers in the half and enabled the Hawks to go to the locker room with a 38-31 lead.

“As soon as I see one shot go in, my confidence goes way up,” said Shockey, who scored a career-high 29 points while going 6 of 11 from 3-point range and was named the Classic MVP. “All I need is that first one.”

The Hawks rolled the momentum into the second half, maintaining the lead for the first 13 minutes despite the Panthers trimming the deficit to one on three separate occasions. Davenport finally regained the lead at 72-71 on Jarrin Randall’s 3-pointer with 6:10 to play.

“You look up with seven or eight minutes to go, you’re playing four fourth game in six days and you’re thinking, ‘Crap, we kind of hit a wall,’” Hellenthal said. “I told my assistant, ‘Dammit, we hit a wall.’ But a credit to these guys, they finally pushed the door over.”

More importantly, they answered each time the Panthers made a run.

“We started off slow, but as we regrouped, we came together as a family,” said Bradshaw, who had 13 points, three rebounds and two assists. “Like a fist.”

Paul Zilinskas’ 3-pointer with five minutes remaining have the Hawks a lead they’d never relinquish. The sophomore’s trey was the start of the 18-6 closing kick.

“There are times this year where we’ve been like an open hand,” Shockey said. “Today and the last week, we’ve really connected. We were that fist.”

The Hawks finished with 16 assists against 10 turnovers, shot 47.8 percent from 3-point range and scored 24 second-chance points as seven different players grabbed offensive rebounds. They also limited the Panthers to seven assists while forcing 14 turnovers.

“Our guys showed good toughness today,” Hellenthal said. “That’s the kind of toughness we have to play with moving forward in order to win (Great Lakes Valley Conference) games.”

The Hawks return from the Christmas break for a non-conference game on December 30 against Missouri Valley College. On January 2, they jump back into GLVC play at Maryville for the first of the 18 remaining conference games.

“Coming back, we’re going to pick up the pace,” Bradshaw said. “We’re going to come back hungry.”

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