Warriors Get Comeback Win in Regular-Season Finale

West Burlington, IA -- The Indian Hills Warriors couldn’t have asked for a better way to conclude the regular season on Saturday night. The Warriors erased some of the bitter taste from a last-second loss to Moberly (Mo.) at home in their previous game and, at the same time, avenged their only conference loss with a 74-70 come-from-behind win at Southeastern CC.

IHCC had already wrapped up the conference title before the game and regained some momentum heading into the postseason with the win. Southeastern had knocked off the Warriors, 81-69, three weeks earlier at the Hellyer Center.

The BlackHawks certainly looked intent on sweeping the season series with the way they started this game. SCC jumped to an 11-0 lead in the first five minutes on four field goals, three of them three-pointers.

Dwan McMillan finally got IHCC on the scoreboard with two free throws 5:04 into the first half. Chad Dillard's layup off a feed from Aaron Austin and Austin's three-pointer quickly cut the lead to 11-7.

Indian Hills tied the score twice, both on shots by Larry Stone, then went ahead late in the half on three free throws. Southeastern's Abby Ruple scored to tie the game at 29-all at intermission.

Southeastern started the second half the same way they began the game. Seven points by Arnold, who led the BlackHawks with 22 points, allowed SCC to again take a double-digit lead, 50-40, midway through the second half.

A driving scoop shot by McMillan tied the game at 57 and Dillard, who was a clutch performer off the IHCC bench, buried a baseline jumper to give Indian Hills a brief lead. After Arnold tipped in a missed shot for another tie, Stone made two free throws to give IHCC a lead it would not give up.

Those foul shots, coming with 2:28 to play, started a stretch that saw Indian Hills make 15 of its final 18 free throws with Stone hitting 11-of-12.

Stone went to the line four times in the final 37.8 seconds and missed only one of eight free throws as the Warriors nailed down their 24th win of the season.

SCC cut the lead to 73-70 on a three-pointer by Mansa Habeeb. Austin's free throw with 4.8 seconds to play supplied the final point.

Stone had a season-high 28 points to lead IHCC. But his performance off the bench wasn't the only solid one by a Warrior reserve. Dillard (6 points, 6 rebounds), E.J. Hicks (7 points) and Alex Vouyoukas all gave Indian Hills key minutes as the Warrior bench outscored SCC's, 47-28.

Indian Hills made three fewer field goals than the hosts and two fewer three-pointers, but the Warriors nailed 30-of-39 free throws to 18-of-24 for SCC.

The top-seeded Warriors start postseason play at home against Marshalltown CC on Wednesday night at 7:00. Southeastern goes to Iowa Western in the other first round game. The winners meet the following week in a best-of-three series to determine the Region 11 champ.

INDIAN HILLS 74, SOUTHEASTERN 70

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 1 6-8 8, Aaron Austin 4 6-7 15, Brandon Garrett 1 2-2 4, Bruno Ferreira 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 1 1-2 3, Larry Stone 6 13-16 28, Brian Wilson 0 1-2 1, E.J. Hicks 3 1-2 7, Alex Vouyoukas 1 0-0 2, Chad Dillard 3 0-0 6 Team 20 30-39 74

SOUTHEASTERN A.D. Simmons 0 0-0 0, Steven Baker 2 3-4 8, Norvell Arnold 8 5-8 22, Mason Leggett 0 2-2 2, Paris Gulley 2 1-2 6, Jeron Lee 3 0-0 8, Rinaldo Mafra 2 0-0 4, Abby Ruple 2 3-4 7, Mansa Habeeb 4 4-4 13 Team 23 18-24 70

Halftime score: Indian Hills 29, Southeastern 29; Three-point field goals: IHCC 4 (Stone 3, Austin 1), SCC 6 (Lee 2, Baker 1, Arnold 1, Gulley 1, Habeeb 1)