Thursday, February 25, 2010

Warriors Survive First-Round Scare

Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills Warriors breathed a big sigh of relief when Marshalltown's Tyler Brown missed the second free throw in a two-shot situation with 2.2 seconds left in regulation, leaving Wednesday's first round game between IHCC and MCC tied at 72. Given new life in overtime, Indian Hills outscored the visitors 22-11 and advanced to the best-of-three league title series next week with a 94-83 victory.

The Tigers, the number-four seed, were poised to upset Indian Hills (25-6) on its home court, taking a five-point lead three times in the final minutes of the second half.

Will Clyburn, the conference's scoring leader, made a free throw with 54 seconds to play to give MCC (17-9) a 68-63 lead. And the prospects of Indian Hills making it into the regional playoff series for the fourth year in a row didn't look good.

Aaron Austin hit a free throw for IHCC and, after a defensive stop, Larry Stone buried a three-pointer to shave the lead to one point. Brown, who led all scorers with 33 points, nailed a pair of foul shots immediately after Stone's three to push the lead back to three at 70-67.

Stone found E.J. Hicks for a layup to make it a one-point game.

Clyburn then made one of two free throws and Stone followed with another three-pointer to put IHCC ahead, 72-71.

Stone then fouled Brown with 2.2 seconds on the clock and the IHCC crowd held its collective breath. But Brown, who made his 10th straight free throw with the first attempt, misfired on the second.

Chad Dillard started the overtime scoring for Indian Hills with a baseline drive for a 74-72 lead and MCC never got any closer than that.

With Indian Hills up by three 80-77 and just over a minute left in OT, Aaron Austin was given credit for a three-point basket that MCC coach Brynjar Brynjarrson thought came after the shot clock had expired.

The Tigers' coach went onto the floor to argue his case and was assessed two technical fouls and ejected from the game.

Stone made two of the four free throws for the technicals to build the lead to eight at 85-77 and the Warriors hit seven of eight free throws in the final minute.

Indian Hills scored the first seven points of the game, five of them by Dwan McMillan. McMillan already had 17 points at halftime, two shy of his season high, but was shut out the rest of the game.

Marshalltown ran off eight straight points to take an 8-7 lead and there would be four ties and six more lead changes in the first half.

The game was tied at 41 at intermission.

IHCC began the second half with another 7-0 run on a three by Dijon Farr and two buckets by Brian Wilson.

Brown showed his defensive ability with two steals which he turned into layups leading the Tigers back to a 52-52 tie.

Indian Hills held a 58-57 lead after a three by Stone, but Brown made four consecutive free throws and Clyburn scored to put MCC ahead by five.

Austin's basket with 3:35 left started the IHCC comeback that saw them eventually go ahead briefly on Stone's late three pointer.

The teams combined to shoot 80 free throws. Brown made 17-of-19 for MCC; Stone was 11-for-13 for the Warriors.

Stone didn't score a point until a pair of free throws with 12:33 left in the second half. He led IHCC with 21. Austin had all but two of his 15 points in the second half and overtime. He and Stone teamed up for 17 of the Warriors' 22 OT points.

Brown recovered from a slow start -- he had only five points at the half -- for his second 30-plus point game against IHCC.

Clyburn had a double-double with 13 rebounds to go along with his 24 points.

Indian Hills and Southeastern will be matched up in the Region 11 playoff series for the second year in a row. For the second straight year, the BlackHawks lost both regular season games to Iowa Western and then knocked them out of the postseason. SCC won 74-67 at Council Bluffs on Wednesday night.

Game one of the series will be at the Hellyer Center on Monday night at 7:00. The two teams meet at SCC on Wednesday and, if a third game is needed, Indian Hills will host it at 7:00 next Friday night.

INDIAN HILLS 94, MARSHALLTOWN 83 (OT)

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 4 6-8 17, Aaron Austin 4 6-10 15, Brandon Garrett 1 0-0 2, Bruno Ferreira 2 2-5 6, Dijon Farr 4 4-5 14, Larry Stone 4 11-13 21, Brian Wilson 4 0-1 8, E.J. Hicks 3 0-0 6, Chad Dillard 2 1-2 5 Team 28 30-44 94

MARSHALLTOWN Will Clyburn 7 8-13 24, DeMarcus Phillips 5 1-2 11, Tyler Brown 7 17-19 33, Javier Valdez 1 2-2 4, Vesteinn Sveinsson 0 0-0 0, Henrique Medeiros 1 0-0 2, Michael Appel 3 0-0 9, Rashad Porter 0 0-0 0 Team 24 28-36 83

Halftime score: Indian Hills 41, Marshalltown 41; End of regulation: Indian Hills 72, Marshalltown 72; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (McMillan 3, Farr 2, Stone 2, Austin 1), MCC 7 (Appel 3, Clyburn 2, Brown 2)

Monday, February 22, 2010

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)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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)

Monday, February 15, 2010

Warriors Clinch First by Thumping Reivers

Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills Warriors took the drama out of the final weekend of the conference season by nailing down the league championship on Saturday night at the Hellyer Center. The Warriors held visiting Iowa Western to a season-low point total in a 63-45 win. That victory, coupled with Marshalltown's 111-109 win against Southeastern, leaves IHCC two games ahead of the other three league schools with one game to play.

It's the second straight ICCAC title for Indian Hills and its third in the past four years.

One of the major differences in the Warriors' win over Iowa Western was three-point shooting. IHCC made nine threes in the game while limiting the Reivers to only two.

And it was when Indian Hills made their three-pointers that was key. Iowa Western took an 11-9 lead about midway through the first half. IHCC first tied the score at 11, then sped away to a 20-11 advantage on a three-pointer by E.J. Hicks and two by Larry Stone.

The Warriors grabbed a 26-19 halftime lead and their final 15 points of the half came on four 3's and a three-point play by Bruno Ferreira.

Indian Hills continued the pattern of scoring their points in threes at the start of the second half. Dwan McMillan made the first of two free throws in the opening minute of the half. He missed the second try, but the Warriors grabbed the rebound and Aaron Austin hit a jump shot to put IHCC ahead 29-19.

Iowa Western battled back to within three at 36-33 on a layup by Tyrone Black. The Warriors then responded with a game-deciding 16-2 run.

It was four threes in that IHCC spurt that allowed the Warriors to coast home with their sixth win in a row against the Reivers. Stone made two more threes in the run and Austin and Dijon Farr each had one.

Stone ended the night's scoring with four straight free throws. He led all scorers with 17 points, the ninth time in the last 10 games he has scored in double figures off the IHCC bench.

Stone wasn't the only Indian Hills reserve who contributed to the win. Brian Wilson scored six of the Warriors' first nine points, but had to leave the game after picking up two quick fouls. Chano Rashiduddin came on and supplied some tough interior defense in Wilson's absence.

When Wilson was saddled with four fouls three minutes into the second half, Alex Vouyoukas took over in the post and had three rebounds and an assist while playing valuable minutes.

Farr had 11 points for Indian Hills and Austin scored all of his nine points in the final 20 minutes.

Anthony Salter and Petey Hausley led IWCC with 11 each.

While Indian Hills has wrapped up the conference title and a home game in the first round of the postseason Region XI tourney, Iowa Western, Marshalltown and Southeastern will be battling for the second seed and the right to host the other first-round game.

IHCC goes to Southeastern this Saturday while Marshalltown travels to Iowa Western.

The Warriors play their final regular season home game on Tuesday night against Moberly (MO).

INDIAN HILLS 63, IOWA WESTERN 45

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 0 4-8 4, Aaron Austin 2 4-6 9, Brandon Garrett 2 0-0 4, Bruno Ferreira 3 1-1 7, Chano Rashiduddin 0 0-0 0, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 4 0-0 11, Larry Stone 4 5-6 17, Brian Wilson 3 2-2 8, E.J. Hicks 1 0-0 3, Alex Vouyoukas 0 0-0 0, Chad Dillard 0 0-0 0 Team 19 16-23 63

IOWA WESTERN Anthony Salter 3 4-5 11, Shay Shine 1 0-1 3, Charlie Westbrook 1 0-0 2, Sammy Emile 2 6-7 10, Jimmy Williams 1 2-4 4, Petey Hausley 5 1-1 11, Wesley Cox 1 0-0 2, Jeff Allgood 0 0-0 0, Tyrone Black 1 0-0 2, K.C. Rodenburg 0 0-0 0 Team 15 13-18 45

Halftime score: Indian Hills 26, Iowa Western 19; Three-point field goals: IHCC 9 (Stone 4, Farr 3, Austin 1, Hicks 1), IWCC 2 (Salter 1, Shine 1)

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Stone's 3's Lead to Home Victory

Ottumwa -- A big second half by sophomore guard Larry Stone, who scored 17 of his season-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes, vaulted Indian Hills to an 87-65 non-conference win over Northeast (Neb.) at the Hellyer Center on Wednesday night.

Stone had his best scoring game since the season-opener against Carl Sandburg when he scored 20. Included in his night's work were six three-point baskets, also a season-high.

Northeast closed to within eight points early in the second half on a three-pointer by Zach Towle. They had scored the final six points of the first half and Towle's three made it 44-36.

Dijon Farr answered with a baseline drive and basket that began a 15-3 run by the Warriors that effectively put the game away.

Farr had two breakaway dunks in the first half around another dunk by Brian Wilson as IHCC used a 12-0 run to break open a tight game.

Northeast scored six straight points to cut the IHCC lead to 25-24 before the Warriors sprinted away. Dwan McMillan had three steals and four assists in the burst.

The Warriors shot 58% for the game (33-57) and Stone made six-of-nine from three-point range. He leads Indian Hills with 44 3's for the season.

Northeast shot 49% (23-47) and was led by Thomas Colbert's 22 points.

Wilson had his second consecutive double-digit effort off the bench for IHCC with 16 points. The Warriors got 53 points from their bench.

Indian Hills returns to Region XI conference play on Saturday night, hosting Iowa Western at 7:00. IHCC enters the weekend with a one-game lead in the conference with two games to play.

INDIAN HILLS 87, NORTHEAST 65

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 0 0-0 0, Brandon Garrett 3 3-4 9, Bruno Ferreira 3 1-2 7, Chano Rashiduddin 2 0-0 4, Derrick Hill 2 0-0 5, Dijon Farr 6 0-0 13, Larry Stone 8 1-2 23, Brian Wilson 5 6-9 16, E.J. Hicks 2 2-3 6, Alex Vouyoukas 2 0-0 4, Chad Dillard 0 0-0 0 Team 33 13-20 87

NORTHEAST Zach Towle 3 3-4 12, Thomas Colbert 9 4-5 22, Nicholas Mabbutt 0 0-0 0, David Taylor 5 1-5 11, Lahkeem Trotter 1 2-2 4, Brad Pieper 0 1-2 1, Sean Stevens 0 0-0 0, Matthew Julkes 2 2-4 8, Dol Kutey 1 0-2 2, Jayvin Reynolds 2 1-3 5 Team 23 14-28 65

Halftime score: Indian Hills 44, Northeast 33; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Stone 6, Hill 1, Farr 1), NCC 5 (Towle 3, Julkes 2)

Monday, February 8, 2010

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)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Delayed Start Doesn't Faze Warriors in 20th Win

Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills basketball was eager to get back on the court and start to erase the bitter taste of last Saturday's loss to Southeastern and it didn't matter that Tuesday's game with Clinton CC started nearly an hour late after the visitors had problems getting to Ottumwa.

Once the game got underway, Indian Hills wasted little time in starting what they hope will be another winning streak as they rolled over the Cougars, 81-38, at the Hellyer Center.

Clinton's Cedric Collins scored the first basket of the game, but by the time the Cougars scored again they were already down 16-2.

The Warriors, who upped their season record to 20-5, continued to stretch the lead with the final margin equalling the largest of the night.

By the halftime break, all 11 of the Warriors who had suited up had at least one field goal. Two of the leading scorers for IHCC had season highs.

E.J. Hicks scored 12 points to pace Indian Hills and Alex Vouyoukas provided 10 points off the bench. Brandon Garrett added 11 points for the Warriors. Collins scored 17 for Clinton, which was outscored, 41-18, in the second half.

Indian Hills has gotten their victories in bunches this year: five straight wins to start the season, then six straight after a three-game losing streak, and an eight-game winning streak that was snapped by SCC last weekend.

The second half of the conference season starts this Saturday with the Warriors on the road at Marshalltown CC, a team they defeated 78-77 in the league opener.

INDIAN HILLS 81, CLINTON 38

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 3 0-0 7, Aaron Austin 1 1-2 3, Brandon Garrett 5 1-4 11, Bruno Ferreira 3 0-0 6, Chano Rashiduddin 1 0-0 2, Derrick Hill 4 0-0 9, Dijon Farr 4 1-3 9, Brian Wilson 4 0-0 8, E.J. Hicks 5 0-1 12, Alex Vouyoukas 5 0-0 10, Chad Dillard 1 2-2 4 Team 36 5-12 81

CLINTON Cedric Collins 6 3-6 17, John Love 3 3-4 10, Karey Sierra 1 1-4 4, Shanune Hannibal 2 0-2 4, Brandon Baccus 0 0-0 0, Brady Oldag 0 0-0 0, Jamaal Beavers 0 1-2 1, DeAngelo Dodd 0 0-0 0, Cory Melancon 1 0-0 2 Team 13 8-18 38

Halftime score: Indian Hills 41, Clinton 20; Three-point field goals: IHCC 4 (Hicks 2, McMillan 1, Hill 1), CCC 4 (Collins 2, Love 1, Sierra 1)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Too Much Arnold Drops IHCC into Tie for First

Ottumwa -- Southeastern Community College did what 15 teams before them couldn't do this season -- win a game at the Hellyer Student Life Center at Indian Hills. And when the visiting BlackHawks handed the Warriors an 81-69 defeat on Saturday night, it left the two teams tied for the top spot in the Region XI standings.

SCC's Norvell Arnold, a first-team all-region choice last year, torched the Warriors for 34 points, 19 of them coming in the second half when the BlackHawks never allowed Indian Hills to get back in the game after SCC hit their first two shots of the last half to build an 11-point lead.

Indian Hills couldn't get closer than eight points after that as the Warriors saw an eight-game winning streak come to an end and lost their first home game since SCC ended their season a year ago with an overtime win in the deciding game of the regional playoff series.

Arnold took over the game down the stretch for Southeastern, scoring 14 straight points for his team. Ten of those points came at the free throw line, where the sophomore made all 12 of his attempts in the second half and 19-of-21 for the game.

Only twice in the second half were the Warriors able to hit shots on consecutive possessions. And the home team was manhandled on the boards, getting outrebounded 44-27.

Brian Wilson gave Indian Hills an 11-8 first-half lead with a three-point play. SCC then got field goals from Arnold and Steven Baker to take a lead they would never lose. Arnold's basket started a 17-2 run for SCC. As part of that run, he also made back-to-back three-pointers. He was fouled on one of those attempts and made it a four-point play by adding the free throw.

Indian Hills fought back to within three points late in the first half, but again it was Arnold that stepped up for the BlackHawks, hitting 4-of-6 foul shots to end the half. Those were his only misses from the free-throw line in 21 tries.

Southeastern quickly expanded their six-point halftime lead on field goals by Rinaldo Mafra and Jeron Lee to begin the second half and the closest the Warriors got after that was 57-49 on two free throws by Larry Stone.

Stone led IHCC in scoring with 17 points. Dijon Farr added 15. Mafra had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the BlackHawks to complement Arnold's big game.

The field goal shooting numbers were nearly identical, 41% for SCC and 42% for IHCC. But the BlackHawks enjoyed a huge edge at the foul line where they made 26-of-31 (84%) to just 20-of-35 (57%) for Indian Hills.

The Warriors and BlackHawks are both 2-1 in the league, a game ahead of Iowa Western and Marshalltown, tied at 1-2 after MCC drubbed Iowa Western, 95-76, in the other conference game Saturday.

Indian Hills has a non-conference contest at home against Clinton CC on Tuesday night before going to Marshalltown for their next league game on Saturday.

SOUTHEASTERN 81, INDIAN HILLS 69

SOUTHEASTERN A.D. Simmons 1 2-2 4, Steven Baker 4 0-0 9, Norvell Arnold 6 19-21 34, Mason Leggett 1 2-2 4, Paris Gulley 3 0-0 7, Jeron Lee 2 0-0 5, Rinaldo Mafra 5 0-2 10, Abby Ruple 1 1-2 3, Mansa Habeeb 1 2-2 5 Team 24 26-31 81

INDIAN HILLS Dwan McMillan 2 4-6 9, Aaron Austin 3 4-5 11, Brandon Garrett 0 0-0 0, Bruno Ferreira 1 1-3 3, Chano Rashiduddin 0 0-0 0, Derrick Hill 1 1-2 3, Dijon Farr 6 1-5 15, Larry Stone 4 6-8 17, Brian Wilson 4 3-6 11, E.J. Hicks 0 0-0 0, Chad Dillard 0 0-0 0 Team 21 20-35 69

Halftime score: Southeastern 39, Indian Hills 33; Three-point field goals: SCC 7 (Arnold 3, Baker 1, Gulley 1, Lee 1, Habeeb 1), IHCC 7 (Stone 3, Farr 2, McMillan 1, Austin 1)