Shot at Buzzer Sends Moberly Past IHCC

Ottumwa -- Eric Saunders tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer allowing Moberly (MO) to post their first win in Ottumwa in nearly two decades. Saunders got inside position and put back Jahmon Smith's missed jump shot to give the visiting Greyhounds a dramatic 68-67 win over Indian Hills at the Hellyer Center on Tuesday night.

The winning basket produced the 10th lead change of the second half and broke the hearts of the Warriors who let a five-point lead slip away in the final 22.4 seconds.

Larry Stone made four straight free throws to put Indian Hills (23-6) ahead 66-61. Antwaun Boyd drove for an uncontested layup to cut the deficit to three. Stone was fouled again, but this time made only one of his two foul shots to leave the score at 67-63.

Smith answered with only his 7th three-pointer of the season, and his only basket of the game, to bring the 'Hounds back to within a point, 67-66. The Warriors then tried to break the Moberly press by throwing a long inbounds pass to the other end of the floor. The ball sailed over the head of IHCC's Dijon Farr and bounced untouched out of bounds.

Because Farr didn't touch the ball, it meant Moberly (22-5) got the ball under their own basket rather than having to go the length of the floor with just over four seconds to play.

The ball was inbounded to Smith who missed a contested shot from inside the free throw line. Saunders though was in a perfect spot to put in the game-winner for the Greyhounds, who had lost their last 10 meetings with Indian Hills and hadn't beaten the Warriors in Ottumwa since 1991.

The game was close throughout. The largest lead was 10 points. Moberly grabbed that advantage on their first two possessions of the second half, back-to-back three-pointers by Jerret Towns. Towns made six 3's in all in the final half.

The Warriors battled back from that 33-23 deficit to tie the game at 40-all. They went ahead on a free throw by Chano Rashiduddin.

Moberly's Brandon Williams started a pattern of lead changes with a field goal and Farr nailed two free throws to allow IHCC to regain the lead.

Indian Hills' Brian Wilson and Moberly's Karron Johnson had a good battle down the stretch. Wilson tied the game at 49-49 with a layup and later made a pair of free throws to give IHCC a four-point lead.

After a Towns' three and two free throws by the Warriors' Dwan McMillan, Johnson gave Moberly a one-point edge with a field goal and two free throws.

Wilson scored back-to-back baskets around a Johnson dunk to leave Indian Hills up by one. Wilson's two free throws with just over a minute left made it a three-point game and set the stage for the final-minute fireworks.

Indian Hills took the largest lead of the first half at 18-12 and, at that point, seven different Warriors had a field goal. Moberly ended the first half with a 15-5 run, however, and Boyd's bank shot at the buzzer provided a four-point lead at intermission and a little foreshadowing for the end of the game.

Wilson had his high-game for the season with 20 points to lead IHCC. Stone got untracked in the second half when he scored all of his 14 points.

Towns' three-point shooting in the second half led to a team-high 20 points for the Greyhounds.

The game was a battle between two teams at the top of their conference standings. Indian Hills will end the regular season with a game at Southeastern on Saturday, having already clinched the league title and home court advantage in the playoffs.

Moberly is a half game ahead of Three Rivers in the Region 16 race with two games to play.

MOBERLY 68, INDIAN HILLS 67

MOBERLY Karron Johnson 5 2-5 12, Antwaun Boyd 3 0-0 6, Jerret Towns 7 0-0 20, Eric Saunders 3 0-0 7, Dezmond Hickman 0 0-0 0, Victor Leak 0 0-0 0, Brandon Williams 3 2-2 9, Latrail McCoy 0 1-2 1, Darius Glover 3 2-2 8, Jahmon Smith 1 2-2 5 Team 25 9-13 68

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 2 2-2 7, Aaron Austin 3 1-2 8, Brandon Garrett 1 0-2 2, Bruno Ferreira 1 0-0 2, Chano Rashiduddin 1 1-2 3, Dijon Farr 2 4-4 10, Larry Stone 3 6-8 14, Brian Wilson 6 8-8 20, E.J. Hicks 0 0-0 0, Chad Dillard 0 1-2 1 Team 19 23-30 67

Halftime score: Moberly 27, Indian Hills 23; Three-point field goals: MACC 9 (Towns 6, Saunders 1, Williams 1, Smith 1), IHCC 6 (Farr 2, Stone 2, McMillan 1, Austin 1)