Austin Carries Warriors Past Flyers

Marshalltown, IA -- A superb second half by Indian Hills sophomore guard Aaron Austin allowed the Warriors to overcome the one-two punch of Junior McLeod and Melvin Tillman and defeat New Creations Basketball Academy, 89-75, in the Emerson JUCO Challenge Saturday night in Marshalltown.

In one stretch in the second half, Austin scored 17 of IHCC's 23 points and assisted on two other field goals in that span as the Warriors were finally able to subdue New Creations, a team Indian Hills had defeated by 43 points just 10 days earlier.

Austin started his spree with a layup to put IHCC ahead 53-45. By the time he was finished, the Warriors had the same eight-point lead, 74-66, with five minutes remaining. The advantage then grew to double digits with the 14-point final margin the largest of the night.

New Creations repeatedly went inside to the 6-foot-8-inch McLeod and he responded with a team-high 22 points. Tillman hit four straight three-pointers in the second half and scored 21.

His last three with 8 1/2 minutes to play cut the IHCC lead to two points. Austin answered with a three-point play, then scored four more points and fed Brandon Garrett for a layup to help the Warriors pull away.

The game was tied four times in the first half after an early eight-point IHCC lead. Chano Rashiduddin scored the Warriors' final three points of the half to allow Indian Hills to take a four-point lead at the break.

But IHCC had trouble shaking the Flyers until the final minutes despite Austin's season-high scoring output. Indian Hills helped its cause by making 21 of 28 free throws.

Indian Hills (11-3) will take a six-game winning streak into Sunday night's game with Penn Valley, the final contest in the tourney.

INDIAN HILLS 89, NEW CREATIONS 75

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 3 6-6 13, Aaron Austin 11 3-4 25, Brandon Garrett 3 2-2 8, Bruno Ferreira 3 2-2 8, Chano Rashiduddin 2 1-2 5, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 3 0-0 6, Larry Stone 2 2-4 7, Brian Wilson 3 0-0 6, E.J. Hicks 1 1-2 3, Alex Vouyoukas 1 0-0 2, Chad Dillard 1 4-6 6 Team 33 21-28 89

NEW CREATIONS Lee Hassan 0 0-0 0, Phil Bond 0 1-2 1, Hayden Annett 4 0-0 12, Greg Tillman 1 1-2 3, Junior McLeod 6 10-16 22, Denham Buchanon 0 0-0 0, Mike Dorris 3 2-6 8, Melvin Tillman 7 3-3 21, Walter Pitchford 3 2-2 8 Team 24 19-31 75

Halftime score: Indian Hills 40, New Creations 36; Three-point field goals: IHCC 2 (McMillan 1, Stone 1), NC 8 (Annett 4, M. Tillman 4)