Ottumwa -- Season-high scoring performances from Dijon Farr and Stephen Coles allowed Indian Hills to claim a share of the conference title on Saturday night as the Warriors knocked off Marshalltown CC, 87-75, at the Hellyer Center.
Farr and Coles were two of six IHCC sophomores who were recognized before the game. They then went out and put on a show. Farr had 24 points, the highest scoring output in his two years at Indian Hills. And Coles notched 17 points and was instrumental in helping the Warriors (22-8, 4-2 Region XI) break open a close game at the start of the second half.
With the Warriors taking a 44-39 lead into the final half, Coles scored on each of Indian Hills' first two possessions of the half. But it was on the defensive end where he also made his presence felt. He either blocked a shot or grabbed a rebound, or both, on MCC's first three possessions.
And after Farr tipped in a missed shot, he got a steal and fed Coles on a fastbreak layup. Jerome Jones followed with a basket for the Warriors to finish off a 10-2 burst to begin the second half and Indian Hills never led by fewer than 10 points after that.
Jones scored 19 and Gary Ricks, Jr. added 13 as Indian Hills had its highest point total in over two months.
Chris Caird came off the bench to keep Marshalltown (15-14, 2-4) close in the first half, when he scored 15 of his team-high 22 points. Tyler Brown had 21 for the Tigers.
Marshalltown had an early 5-2 lead before Jones tied it with a three, the first of 12 unanswered points for the Warriors.
The Tigers fought back from a 10-point deficit to tie the score at 37-all.
That's when Farr went to work. He hit a pair of foul shots, scored on a driving layup, then buried a three-pointer.
With the win, the Warriors completed a season sweep of Marshalltown and earned a tie for first place in the conference with Southeastern. It's the third year in a row, and the fourth time in five years, that Indian Hills has tied for the league crown or won it outright.
Indian Hills will host Iowa Western on Thursday night in a first-round game in the Region XI tournament. The winner will play the winner of Thursday's game between Marshalltown and Southeastern in a best-of-three series to determine the Region XI postseason champion.
INDIAN HILLS 87, MARSHALLTOWN 75
INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 7 3-4 17, Jerome Jones 8 2-5 19, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 8 7-8 24, Riley Stuve 1 1-2 3, Chad Dillard 1 4-4 6, Gary Ricks 5 1-2 13, Latroy Taylor 2 0-0 5, D.J. Bennett 0 0-0 0 Team 32 18-25 87
MARSHALLTOWN Tyler Brown 6 9-12 21, Veisteinn Sveinsson 4 0-0 11, Sherman Blanford 1 0-1 2, Chris Caird 6 8-10 22, Rashaad Brown 3 1-2 7, Michael Appel 2 2-2 8, Luiz Santos 1 0-2 2, Nilson Santana 1 0-2 2 Team 24 20-31 75
Halftime score: Indian Hills 44, Marshalltown 39; Three-point field goals: IHCC 5 (Ricks 2, Jones 1, Farr 1, Taylor 1), MCC 7 (Sveinsson 3, Caird 2, Appel 2)
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