Austin Leads IHCC Past Lee

Ottumwa -- Led by 19 points from Aaron Austin, 15 of them in the first half, Indian Hills defeated Lee College, 83-59, on the first night of the Jack Blackwell Tire Company Classic at the Hellyer Center Friday night. The win was the second in a row to start the season for the Warriors.

The visitors from Baytown, Texas had three early leads, before Indian Hills went ahead for good with a burst midway through the opening half that was fueled by Austin and Dijon Farr.

Indian Hills opened up a nine-point advantage at 33-24. Lee came back with consecutive field goals to make it a five-point game, but they didn't get any closer than that the rest of the night. The Warriors closed the half with a three-pointer by Farr, his third of the half, and a pair of free throws by Austin to take an 11-point lead at intermission.

The Warriors then scored six quick points on a basket by Bruno Ferreira and two by Brandon Garrett to start the second half and coasted home from there.

Indian Hills was able to frustrate Lee with an aggressive trapping defense. IHCC was credited with 10 steals, three by Austin.

Indian Hills' largest lead was 26 points and Ferreira scored eight of his 13 points in the final minutes to keep the Warriors comfortably ahead.

After Austin's game-high 19 points for IHCC, Farr added 17. Antone Byrd scored 16 to pace the Rebels.

Indian Hills will take on Highland CC in the final game of the Classic on Saturday night.

INDIAN HILLS 83, LEE 59

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 2 4-5 8, Aaron Austin 7 4-4 19, Brandon Garrett 4 0-0 8, Bruno Ferreira 4 4-6 13, Chano Rashiduddin 2 0-0 4, Derrick Hill 3 0-2 7, Dijon Farr 7 0-0 17, Larry Stone 0 0-1 0, E.J. Hicks 1 0-0 2, Alex Vouyoukas 1 0-0 2, Chad Dillard 0 0-0 0, LeRon Bennett 1 0-0 3, Erik Eckhardt 0 0-0 0 Team 32 12-18 83

LEE Josh Micheaux 1 3-9 5, Alex Scotland-Williamson 2 0-0 4, Jekore Tyler 3 0-0 6, Joshua Eleby 1 0-0 2, Antone Byrd 6 1-4 16, Cameron Madlock 1 0-0 2, Cedric Martin 2 2-2 6, Andre Jackson 5 4-7 14, Greg Batieste 0 0-0 0, Alex Duncan 2 0-0 4, Nick James 0 0-0 0, Jacob McDonald 0 0-0 0 Team 23 10-22 59

Halftime score: Indian Hills 44, Lee 33; Three-point field goals: IHCC 7 (Farr 3, Austin 1, Ferreira 1, Hill 1, Bennett 1), LC 3 (Byrd 3)