Road Win Puts Warriors Back on Top

Marshalltown, IA -- The Indian Hills Warriors used a 9-2 run over the game’s final two-and-a-half minutes to reclaim sole possession of first place in the conference with a 63-56 win at Marshalltown Community College Saturday night.

Aaron Austin’s jumper in the lane with 2:10 left to play snapped a 54-all tie and put the Warriors ahead in what was a see-saw second half. After a Warrior defensive stop Austin made a layup to double the lead. Tyler Brown, who torched the Warriors for 31 points in their previous meeting and had 18 in this game, hit a pair of free throws with just over a minute to play to cut the lead to 58-56.

But the home-standing Tigers wouldn’t score again. IHCC’s Brian Wilson made a short hook shot for a four-point lead and Indian Hills (21-5, 3-1) added three free throws in the final minute of play to finish off the victory, Indian Hills’ third in four conference games and their second straight on the road.

Austin drained two free throws to close out the scoring. He had all of his 13 points in the second half.

The Indian Hills defense was outstanding early and late in the game. The Warriors held the high-scoring Tigers to only five field goals in the first half. All the baskets were scored in the paint as MCC’s outside shooting, which produced 14 three-pointers in the earlier meeting, was non-existent. They made only three 3’s for the night.

MCC managed only one field goal in the final five-and-a-half minutes of the second half and shot just 32% for the game. Outside shooting was tough for both sides. The Warriors made only two shots from behind the arc.

After a tight first 14 minutes of play, IHCC opened an 11-point lead late in the first half on a three-pointer by Larry Stone. He led Indian Hills with 14 points.

Marshalltown (15-7, 1-3) cut the lead to eight by halftime, then battled back to tie the score at 32-all early in the second half. It was close the rest of the game with five lead changes and four ties in the final 20 minutes.

As is so often the case in these types of games, a couple of mini-runs helped the Warriors’ cause. They scored six straight points to take a 38-34 advantage and later used an 8-0 run to grab a 54-49 lead. Stone was in the middle of the second run with a basket and two assists to Wilson.

Marshalltown quickly tied the score at 54 though on a three-point play by their leading scorer, Will Clyburn, and two foul shots by Brown.

That’s when Austin made his consecutive clutch field goals for the Warriors who notched their fifth straight conference road win over the past two seasons.

Clyburn had a game-high 20 points for MCC and Brown added 18. In addition to Stone’s 14 and Austin’s 13 for the Warriors, Dijon Farr scored 12 and Wilson tallied 10 points.

It was a good night for road teams in the conference. Iowa Western won in overtime at Southeastern, 72-69, leaving Indian Hills one game ahead of both IWCC and SCC with two Region XI games left.

Indian Hills has a non-conference home game against Northeast (Neb.) on Tuesday night at 7:00. Iowa Western then visits the Hellyer Center this Saturday night looking to avenge an earlier home court loss to IHCC.

INDIAN HILLS 63, MARSHALLTOWN 56

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 3 0-1 7, Aaron Austin 4 5-6 13, Brandon Garrett 0 1-2 1, Bruno Ferreira 1 0-2 2, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 5 2-2 12, Larry Stone 5 3-4 14, Brian Wilson 5 0-0 10, E.J. Hicks 2 0-0 4 Team 25 11-17 63

MARSHALLTOWN Will Clyburn 5 10-13 20, Tyler Brown 4 9-10 18, Luiz Paulo 1 0-0 2, Mike Willis 0 1-2 1, Vesteinn Sveinsson 0 0-0 0, Henrique Medeiros 4 1-1 11, Michael Appel 0 0-2 0, Rashad Porter 2 0-1 4 Team 16 21-29 56

Halftime score: Indian Hills 28, Marshalltown 20; Three-point field goals: IHCC 2 (McMillan 1, Stone 1), MCC 3 (Medeiros 2, Brown 1)