By: Dominic Miles

The Quincy University men’s basketball team aired nationally on ESPN3 on Sunday, November 6. The Hawks travelled to Normal, Illinois to take on NCAA Division I Illinois State University Redbirds. The Redbirds defeated Quincy by a score of 84-62 for the Hawks’ final exhibition game before the season.

The Hawks trailed at halftime, 46-34, to the Redbirds, but came out of halftime on a run lead by Herm Senor II and Marcus Hinton to cut Illinois State’s lead to just 7 points with just over 13 minutes to play.

Quincy’s senior guard Senor II led the hawks with 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the field.

“We competed well and went on some point swings, but just couldn’t pull away,” Senor II said. “But we know if we play to our potential, we can be a tough team to beat.”

With just over 9 minutes to play senior forward Evan McGaughey received a pass from senior forward Joe Tagarelli and threw down a slam to cut the Redbirds’ lead to just 9 points.

“It just proves we can go on runs and compete with some of the best competition,” McGaughey said. “Leadership through the six seniors are an important key to this team’s success.”

Senior leadership was certainly on display Sunday.

QU’s senior forward Tagarelli scored 10 points with 4 rebounds, assists, and steals a piece. Sophomore forward Hinton also added 12 points for QU with 8 rebounds.

Senior forward Dalton Hoover also found the floor for the first time since having knee surgery early last year. He scored 5 points and came down with 4 rebounds.

The Hawks shot 35 percent from the field and 30 percent from beyond the arc while making 7 three-pointers.

“We had some good possessions and shot decent from the floor, but there is always something to improve upon,” senior guard Von Washington III said. “Now our only focus is having a good week of practice and carrying that over to the Grand Valley (State) game on Friday night.”

The Quincy University Hawks men’s basketball team starts their regular season quest at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Friday, November 11, at 5 p.m. (c.t.) where they will take on Grand Valley State. QU will then go on to play the next night on Saturday, November 12, where they take on Ferris State.