Council Bluffs – Iowa Western got a free throw with less than a second to go in regulation to tie the game and then held Indian Hills to one point in overtime as the Reivers escaped with a 56-53 win on Saturday night.
With Indian Hills leading 52-51, Iowa Western took a timeout with 25.7 seconds to play in the second half. But they had to settle for a contested three-point try that didn’t hit the rim.
Jeremy Robinson grabbed the rebound in the lane and the Warriors were called for a foul with four-tenths of a second to play as the Reivers’ center desperately tried to get a shot away.
Robinson made the first free throw and, after an IHCC timeout, missed the second and the game went to overtime.
But the Warriors, who didn’t hit a field goal after Chad Dillard’s three-pointer with under three minutes to go in regulation gave Indian Hills (20-8, 3-2 Region 11) the lead 52-49, couldn’t find the range in overtime.
Robinson opened the OT scoring with what turned out to be the only basket of the five-minute extra session. A free throw by Dijon Farr with 2:53 to go in OT cut the deficit to one at 54-53.
After that, neither team scored until J.C. Guzman made a pair of free throws with 19.6 seconds remaining. Indian Hills had two chances to tie the score in the final seconds, but the first three-pointer was off the mark and, after an offensive rebound, the second was partially blocked.
The Warriors struggled to find the range against the Iowa Western (13-14, 2-3 Region 11) zone defense. Ten of their 17 field goals for the game were 3s and they shot only 32 percent. IHCC actually shot a better percentage from behind the arc than they did in two-point attempts.
Jerome Jones returned to the Indian Hills lineup after missing the previous game with a hip-pointer. Jones sparked the Warriors to a 31-25 halftime lead with 11 of his game-high 20 points.
Riley Stuve came off the bench to hit a trio of three-pointers in the opening half as the Warriors built a nine-point lead before the Reivers’ Montez Blair hit his fourth 3 of the half to cut the deficit to six at intermission. Blair added only two points in the second half.
The Iowa Western player who really hurt the Warriors was reserve Alonzo Traylor. Traylor scored 12 points in the second half including two straight baskets after IHCC had opened up a 39-30 lead.
Traylor later tied the score at 44, then gave Iowa Western a short-lived 47-46 lead with a three-point play.
Jones answered with a three of his own for the Warriors at around the 4:30 mark, but Dillard’s 3 two minutes later was the only field goal IHCC managed over the final 7-plus minutes.
Traylor and Blair each scored 14 for the Reivers. Stuve and Gary Ricks had nine apiece for the Warriors.
The win was Iowa Western’s first in the past eight games with Indian Hills. And the loss leaves the Warriors in a tie for first place in the conference with Southeastern, each at 3-2.
SCC won at Marshalltown, 79-75, on Saturday. Marshalltown and Iowa Western are one game behind the co-leaders at 2-3.
With Indian Hills hosting Marshalltown and Southeastern traveling to Iowa Western next Saturday there is a chance that all four conference teams could end up at 3-3 in the league.
The Warriors will play a non-conference game against Southwestern CC at the Hellyer Center on Tuesday night before wrapping up the regular season against Marshalltown on Saturday.
IOWA WESTERN 56, INDIAN HILLS 53 (OT)
INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 0 0-0 0, Jerome Jones 7 3-6 20, Dijon Farr 2 4-6 8, Bruno Ferreira 0 2-2 2, Riley Stuve 3 0-0 9, Chad Dillard 2 0-0 5, Gary Ricks 3 0-0 9, Latroy Taylor 0 0-0 0 Team 17 9-14 53
IOWA WESTERN Jeremy Robinson 4 3-7 11, Alonzo Traylor 4 6-7 14, Kelvin Dixon 2 1-3 5, Montez Blair 5 0-0 14, J.C. Guzman 2 2-2 7, Tim McDavid 0 0-0 0, Jordan Weaver 2 1-1 5 Team 19 13-20 56
Halftime score: Indian Hills 31, Iowa Western 25; Three-point field goals: IHCC 10 (Jones 3, Stuve 3, Ricks 3, Dillard 1), IWCC 5 (Blair 4, Guzman 1)
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