Ottumwa -- Dijon Farr's layup off a perfectly executed baseline out-of-bounds play allowed Indian Hills to steal a win in the Region XI opener against Marshalltown Saturday night. Farr's basket, from a feed from Dwan McMillan, put the Warriors on top 78-77 and Marshalltown was unable to get the ball past halfcourt in their final possession.
The game-winner by Farr, who led the IHCC scoring with 19 points, came about 16 seconds after MCC's Henrique Medeiros gave the Tigers the advantage with a three-pointer with 20.5 seconds remaining. Medeiros' three-ball came on a nice pass from Tyler Brown. Everybody in the gym probably expected Brown to take the shot for MCC. After all, he had made nine 3's and 11 of his 14 shots up to that point in the game. But Brown drew two defenders and then passed to a wide-open Medeiros who buried what looked like a game-winning shot for the Tigers.
The Warriors though showed a resiliency in the final seconds that they had exhibited earlier in the evening after falling behind by as many as 18 points in the first half. When Brown nailed his 7th three of the opening half, Marshalltown had a 39-21 lead and Brown had outscored IHCC all by himself, 25-21.
That's when Indian Hills altered their offensive strategy. Coach Jeff Kidder had his team spread the court on offense and drive the gaps in the Tigers' zone defense. It paid off to the tune of a 16-0 run to close the first half, a spurt which got the Warriors back to within two points at intermission..
Farr started the IHCC run with a three-pointer. Aaron Austin had two straight field goals, one of them a three. Bruno Ferreira added a free throw and McMillan finished a three-point play to keep the run going. After Farr scored to cut the lead to 39-35, he and Austin combined for the final basket of the half.
Indian Hills got the ball out of bounds in their backcourt after an MCC turnover. With just 1.9 seconds of the clock, Farr found Austin streaking toward the Tigers' goal with no one back for Marshalltown and Austin's layup beat the first-half buzzer and sent the Warriors off with halftime momentum.
Indian Hills scored the first six points of the second half to take a 43-39 lead and extend their run of unanswered points to 22.
The Warriors eventually built the lead to eight at 51-43. Brown's first basket of the second half, a three, cut the lead to two and Mike Willis followed with a tying field goal for the Tigers. Willis had 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Larry Stone's three-pointer snapped the tie and Stone had two more field goals, including another three, as the Warriors again built the lead to eight on five straight points by McMillan.
Once again, MCC stormed back with an 8-0 run which ended when Brown made his 9th three-pointer of the game, tying the score at 70.
McMillan's basket with three minutes to play gave IHCC the lead, but Willis tied it on an inside bucket. Ferreira scored on an offensive rebound goal for the Warriors, but Will Clyburn made two free throws after an intentional foul call on IHCC to tie the score for the final time at 74-74.
Austin's floater in the lane with under a minute to play gave Indian Hills a 76-74 lead and set the stage for the final heroics by Medeiros and Farr.
For the game, Marshalltown made 14-of-23 three-pointers for 61%.
Each team had four players in double figures with Brown's 31 leading all scorers. The Warriors had good balance with Stone getting 17, McMillan 14 and Austin 12 to go along with the 19 scored by Farr.
The Warriors extended their winning streak to seven and their home record to 15-0. They will take an 18-4 mark to Council Bluffs to battle Iowa Western. The Reivers opened their conference schedule at home with a 79-72 win over Southeastern on Saturday.
INDIAN HILLS 78, MARSHALLTOWN 77
INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 6 2-4 14, Aaron Austin 5 0-0 12, Brandon Garrett 2 0-1 4, Bruno Ferreira 2 3-5 7, Chano Rashiduddin 0 0-0 0, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 8 1-4 19, Larry Stone 6 2-2 17, Brian Wilson 0 0-0 0, E.J. Hicks 2 0-0 5, Chad Dillard 0 0-0 0 Team 31 8-16 78
MARSHALLTOWN Will Clyburn 3 4-6 11, Tyler Brown 11 0-0 31, Luiz Paulo 2 2-4 6, Mike Willis 7 1-2 15, Vesteinn Sveinsson 0 0-0 0, Charleston Smith 0 0-0 0, Henrique Medeiros 4 0-0 11, Michael Appel 1 0-0 3, Rashad Porter 0 0-0 0 Team 28 7-12 77
Halftime score: Marshalltown 39, Indian Hills 37; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Stone 3, Austin 2, Farr 2, Hicks 1), MCC 14 (Brown 9, Medeiros 3, Clyburn 1, Appel 1)
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