Warriors Crank Up the Offense to Drub NIACC

Ottumwa -- NIACC came to the Hellyer Student Life Center on Thursday night with an undefeated record, a No. 7 national ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll and an offensive average of over 96 points a game. They left with their first loss of the season and their lowest point total of the year.

Indian Hills (10-3) sprinted out to a 28-point halftime lead and cruised to a 109-70 win. It was the fifth straight victory for IHCC, their second five-game win streak of the season.

By the half, Indian Hills was only four points below their season scoring average of 72 points a game. And the Warriors continued to widen the lead in the final 20 minutes. The largest lead was 45 points at 89-44.

IHCC's scoring was led by freshmen Brandon Garrett and Dijon Farr who both eclipsed their previous best scoring night. Garrett had 22 points and showed his versatility with four rim-shaking dunks and a late three-point basket. He also made all five of his free-throw attempts. Farr scored 21 points.

Garrett's first slam gave the Warriors their first double-digit lead at 16-6. Later in the half, Garrett and Farr threw down dunks on successive possessions as the lead grew to 54-35.

Indian Hills ended their huge first half with a three-pointer by Larry Stone, who added 11 points, and a pair of free throws by Dwan McMillan, who just missed double figures with nine.

Garrett's three-pointer put IHCC over the century mark for the second time in the last four games.

NIACC was led by DeAaron Hearn with 12 points.

It was the first time the two teams had met in basketball since the 1992-93 season.

The Warriors head to Marshalltown this weekend for two games in the Emerson JUCO Challenge, hosted by Marshalltown CC. Indian Hills will meet New Creations on Saturday night at 8:00 and will take on Penn Valley Sunday night at 6.

INDIAN HILLS 109, NIACC 70

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 2 5-8 9, Aaron Austin 1 1-2 3, Brandon Garrett 8 5-5 22, Bruno Ferreira 2 2-2 6, Chano Rashiduddin 2 3-4 7, Derrick Hill 2 0-0 6, Dijon Farr 8 4-4 21, Larry Stone 5 0-0 11, Brian Wilson 4 1-2 9, E.J. Hicks 4 0-1 8, Alex Vouyoukas 3 1-1 7, Chad Dillard 0 0-2 0, Erik Eckhardt 0 0-0 0 Team 41 22-31 109

NIACC Lemar Anderson 5 0-0 10, Kjay Jackson 3 1-4 7, Andre Garth 2 1-2 5, DeAaron Hearn 12, Jacob Templeton 0 4-4 4, Juston Meier 1 0-0 2, Nick Stromer 1 3-6 5, Harri Harvey 1 3-4 5, Jerel Jernigan 5 0-0 11, Nicco Montgomery 2 0-0 5, Ryan Anderson 1 0-0 3, Dylan Alitz 0 0-0 0 Team 24 16-25 70

Halftime score: Indian Hills 68, NIACC 40; Three-point field goals: IHCC 5 (Hill 2, Garrett 1, Farr 1, Stone 1), NIACC 6 (Hearn 2, Harvey 1, Jernigan 1, Montgomery 1, R. Anderson 1)