Warriors Down Highland, Go to 2-0

Ottumwa -- The 9th-ranked Indian Hills Warriors completed a season-opening sweep of their two games in the Jack Blackwell Tire Company Classic on Saturday night, holding off a late rally to upend Highland (Ill.) CC, 89-75, at the Hellyer Center.

Indian Hills was finally able to put some distance between themselves and the visiting Cougars by grabbing a 79-59 lead in the second half. Highland then provided some anxious moments as they quickly cut the deficit to 80-69. But HCC couldn't score on a possession that would have cut the IHCC lead to single digits and the Warriors went on to notch their second straight win to open the 2011-12 campaign.

The Cougars took an 18-11 first half lead, hitting two of their four 3-pointers for the game to jump ahead. The Warriors went ahead on a Michael Haynes basket at 21-20 and Roderick Bobbitt gave IHCC the lead for good with a three that broke a 23-all tie.

The Warriors outscored HCC, 11-3 to start the second half and never led by fewer than 10 points the rest of the night.

Jameel McKay helped to jump-start the IHCC offense with 13 first-half points and he led the Warriors' scoring with 20. Haynes added 13 and Buckley chipped in 12. Parker paced Highland with 16.

Indian Hills goes on the road for the first time on Tuesday night when the Warriors battle State Fair CC in Sedalia, Missouri. They will play four games in five nights next week with the final three games in consecutive nights at home.


INDIAN HILLS 89, HIGHLAND 75

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 1 3-6 5, Gary Ricks 2 0-0 6, DeAndray Buckley 3 5-5 12, Michael Haynes 6 1-1 13, D.J. Bennett 3 0-0 6, Kieran Woods 3 1-2 9, Jameel McKay 7 6-10, Dustin Hogue 2 1-3 5, Ronnie Stevens 1 1-2 3, Trinson White 0 0-0 0, Roderick Bobbitt 2 3-5 8, Rawane Ndiaye 1 0-0 2 Team 31 21-34 89

HIGHLAND Tre' Burnette 4 0-0 9, Deonte Jones 3 2-2 10, Demetrius Tolliver 3 1-1 7, Kris Sereme 1 0-0 2, Michael Ochereobia 2 1-2 5, Joseph Danforth 1 2-6 5, Aaron Nelson 7 1-2 15, Jeremy Parker 4 8-9 16, Samuel Ford 2 1-2 5, Tariq Qaasim 1 0-0 2 Team 27 16-24 75

Halftime score: Indian Hills 38, Highland 33; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Ricks, Woods 2, Buckley, Bobbitt 1), HCC 4 (Jones 2, Burnette, Danforth 1)