All good things must come to an end at some point. This was the case for the Rockhurst University Men’s basketball team.

Although a great season, the Hawks finish with a record of 16-13 almost the same record as last year (17-12). After a rough first two games of the season the Hawks had turned around and later won their first three conference games in a row.

The Hawks held an early upper stand in the GLVC rankings at number two. Although they never dropped out of the top eight rankings, they never reached the number two spot they had once been at.

After talking with the Sentinel standout point guard and junior captain, Curtis Lewis II, had a couple words from the season.

“We lost a few tough games to Lewis and the University of Indianapolis that would have tremendously helped us in the GLVC rankings and especially in the regional rankings for the NCAA tournament. We came back from 18 points down to Lewis but ran out of gas at the end and in the Indy game we were just unable to make free throws at the end of the game in the last minute to put them totally away,” he said.

Lewis had led the team in scoring most of the year and then was injured with turf toe and a knee in a game versus Truman State that impacted him the rest of the season. Although the injuries Lewis still average 14.8 points per game and received GLVC Second Team Honors.

Among other junior starters were Chris Hamil, Quinton Curry and redshirt sophomore Nick Volz. These upperclassman starters will be back in the starting lineup next year and hope to give the Hawks a push at a NCAA tournament berth in the 2020-2021 season.

“We need to put in more work this offseason and become a better shooting team from the three-point line next year,” Hamil stated. “After only losing two seniors on the team, I am excited to get back to work with the team and help the team in the upcoming season. With an experienced team, I think we should be able to win the GLVC and make a statement in the NCAA tournament,” Hamil told Sentinel.

With the help of all five starters coming back and efforts from the big four (Curry 15.8 ppg, Hamil 14.4 ppg, Lewis 14.8 ppg, and Volz 11.6 ppg), the Hawks look to be a problem for opponents facing them next year, as they will be even more experienced.