Friday, February 25, 2011

Warriors Start Postseason by Edging Iowa Western

Ottumwa -- Frequently, it's a matter of surviving and moving on in postseason basketball. That's what Indian Hills was able to do on Thursday. The second-seeded Warriors came from 11 points down in the second half to rally and defeat third-seeded Iowa Western, 66-63, at the Hellyer Center.

The win sets up a matchup between Indian Hills (23-8) and Southeastern (24-7) in the region's championship series, the third year in a row that IHCC and SCC will collide in the best-of-three title series.

Southeastern had an easier time in their first-round game, pummeling Marshalltown, 91-67.

It looked for quite a while Thursday like Iowa Western (14-17)would spring an upset over Indian Hills. The Reivers had lost the regular-season game at IHCC by 23 points.

But, outside of a brief one-point lead by Indian Hills early in the game, Iowa Western was in control for about the first 30 minutes of action.

When the Reiver's Jordan Weaver scored the final two of seven points in a row for IWCC, the visitors had a 41-30 lead, their largest of the game.

The Warriors and their fans were getting anxious, but Indian Hills finally got a spark that settled some of that anxiety.

Jerome Jones and Stephen Coles hit back-to-back baskets for the Warriors and then Dijon Farr went to work. Farr, who had 15 points, scored three straight buckets. The second came after he stole the ball and drove the length of the floor for a layup.

He then scored again on a baseline out-of-bounds lob pass from Gary Ricks, Jr. that sliced the Iowa Western lead to 41-40.

But Iowa Western refused to give up the lead until Jones and Ricks buried consecutive 3s to put IHCC on top 53-50.

The Warriors never trailed again although the Reivers got to within one point once, and to within two at 65-63 after Jeremy Robinson hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds to play.

Farr was fouled with 8.9 seconds on the clock and made one of two free throws to put the IHCC advantage at three. Robinson's three-point attempt just before the buzzer was off the mark.

Robinson made a 3 at the end of the first half to give Iowa Western a 29-25 lead at halftime. He led the Reivers with 22 points.

Iowa Western had a seven-point lead in the first half at 23-16 after a three-point play by Alonzo Traylor.

Four of the Warriors' first five field goals were three-pointers and it took them nearly 14 minutes to make those five shots. They wound up the game with 10 3's.

IHCC committed 11 turnovers in the opening half and didn't have a free-throw attempt.

They did a better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half with just three turnovers and made 8-of-10 2nd half free throws.

Indian Hills and Southeastern split a pair of games in the regular season. Both won at home, SCC by a 64-58 score and IHCC by 65-64.


INDIAN HILLS 66, IOWA WESTERN 63

INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 3 2-2 8, Jerome Jones 8 3-3 21, Dijon Farr 6 1-2 15, Riley Stuve 3 0-0 8, Chad Dillard 1 2-3 5, Gary Ricks 3 0-0 9, Latroy Taylor 0 0-0 0, D.J. Bennett 0 0-0 0 Team 24 8-10 66

IOWA WESTERN Jeremy Robinson 8 4-9 22, Alonzo Traylor 6 1-3 13, Kelvin Dixon 3 1-1 7, Montez Blair 3 0-0 6, J.C. Guzman 2 0-0 6, Tyrone Black 0 0-0 0, Tim McDavid 0 0-0 0, Zaahir Smith 0 0-0 0, Jordan Weaver 4 1-1 9 Team 26 7-14 63

Halftime score: Iowa Western 29, Indian Hills 25; Three-point field goals: IHCC 10 (Ricks 3, Jones 2, Farr 2, Stuve 2, Dillard 1), IWCC 4 (Robinson 2, Guzman 2)

Monday, February 21, 2011

Warriors Down Marshalltown, Grab Piece of League Title

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)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Back on Track, Warriors Whip Southwestern

Ottumwa -- Indian Hills was finally able to pull away from visiting Southwestern CC with an 11-0 run over the final three minutes as the Warriors snapped a two-game losing streak with a 67-52 victory at the Hellyer Center Tuesday night.

Southwestern fell behind by 12 points in the first half, but cut the deficit to eight at halftime. The Spartans were within a point at 38-37 in the early part of the second half and Indian Hills (21-8) wasn't able to take control until Gary Ricks' three-pointer started the late-game burst.

Riley Stuve, who made only his second start of the year and responded with 14 points, and Jerome Jones each made a pair of free throws and Stuve and Farr added field goals as the lead grew to 18 points.

The only points for SWCC (14-12) in the final three-plus minutes came on a late 3 by Tyler Smith.

Stephen Coles helped the Warriors get off to a good start, scoring six of IHCC's first 10 points. Coles had all of his 10 points for the game in the first half.

Austin Emerson had 13 first-half points for Southwestern and was their only double-figure scorer with 15.

The Warriors' largest lead of the opening half was 27-15 after a couple of goals by Stuve, including a three, and a trey by Jones.

Southwestern ran off seven straight points to cut the lead back to five. The margin was never greater than eight after that until the late surge by IHCC.

Jones led the Warriors with 16 points.

Indian Hills now sets its sights on this Saturday's battle with Marshalltown at the Hellyer Center. It will be the final regular season game for the Warriors, who are tied for the top spot in the conference with Southeastern, one game ahead of both Marshalltown and Iowa Western.

INDIAN HILLS 67, SOUTHWESTERN 52

INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 5 0-0 10, Jerome Jones 6 2-3 16, Derrick Hill 1 0-0 2, Dijon Farr 2 0-6 4, Riley Stuve 4 5-6 14, Chad Dillard 2 2-2 6, Gary Ricks 4 2-2 12, Latroy Taylor 1 0-0 3, Giovanni Smith 0 0-0 0, D.J. Bennett 0 0-0 0 Team 25 11-19 67

SOUTHWESTERN Alec Hall 2 0-0 4, Luke Sealer 3 1-1 8, Tyler Smith 2 0-0 5, Dominique Outley 0 0-0 0, Austin Emerson 6 2-2 15, Keenan Joiner 2 0-0 4, David Goddard 1 0-0 3, Collin Artinger 0 0-0 0, David Farmer 1 0-0 2, De'Everett Williams 1 0-0 2, Sam Duggins 3 1-3 7 Team 21 4-6 52

Halftime score: Indian Hills 36, Southwestern 28; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Jones 2, Ricks 2, Stuve 1, Taylor 1), SWCC 6 (Emerson 3, Sealer 1, Smith 1, Goddard 1)

Monday, February 14, 2011

Warriors Drop OT Decision at Iowa Western

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)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Moberly Holds Off Warriors For Season Sweep

Moberly, Mo. -- Indian Hills' bid for a second straight comeback win came up short and the Warriors dropped a 57-53 decision to Moberly Area Community College on Tuesday night.

The Warriors (20-7, 3-1 Region XI) were down by 11 points with under two minutes to play and then ran off nine straight points to get to within 55-53 with 20 seconds remaining. Moberly's Rodney Givens, scoreless to that point in the game, was fouled with 16.1 seconds left and calmly dropped in two free throws to ice the game.

A layup attempt by IHCC's Dijon Farr rolled around the rim and was tipped in by D.J. Bennett only to be waved off for basket interference. Moberly (15-9, 2-3 Region XVI) missed a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds to play, but the Warriors couldn't get a shot off and the Greyhounds escaped with the win.

Indian Hills had rallied from 17 points down in the second half in their previous game against Southeastern and appeared poised to possibly duplicate that effort against Moberly.

With his team trailing 55-44, Indian Hills' Derrick Hill hit a jumper in the lane. Riley Stuve, who led IHCC with 14 points, then tallied five quick points on a steal and layup followed by a three-pointer to cut the lead to four with 27.2 seconds on the clock.

After an MACC turnover, Hill found Bennett alone for a dunk and the Warriors were within two points for the first time since midway through the first half. But Givens' free throws stemmed the tide and gave Moberly its third straight win against the Warriors dating back to a one-point win at the end of the 2009-10 regular season.

The Greyhounds had beaten IHCC, 65-50, on January 10 of this year at the Hellyer Center.

Indian Hills had a four-game winning streak broken. The Warriors return to action this Saturday night, trying to protect a one-game lead in the conference standings when they travel to take on Iowa Western.

In the earlier meeting between Indian Hills and Moberly, the Warriors never led. They had one lead in this game at 10-9 after a basket by Stuve. But the lead was short-lived when Ronnie Boggs had a field goal for MACC on their next possession.

And Indian Hills was playing catchup the rest of the game.

Moberly used an 11-2 run -- the only IHCC points on another basket by Stuve -- to take control.

Gary Ricks, Jr. hit a three-pointer early in the second half to get the Warriors to within three points, but Moberly really hurt Indian Hills with a string of offensive rebound baskets.

The Greyhounds' first three baskets of the second half came on putbacks, and the third one, by Denmark McDonald, turned into a conventional three-point play after he was fouled on a putback.

McDonald had two more field goals around a basket by IHCC's Chad Dillard. After Ricks made a pair of foul shots, Daylen Robinson scored five consecutive points to give MACC their biggest lead at 45-33.

Indian Hills tried to mount their comeback after that, but couldn't fight all the way back in suffering their 7th loss of the season.

Boggs had a game-high 20 points for the Greyhounds. Ricks added 12 to Stuve's 14 for the Warriors.

MOBERLY 57, INDIAN HILLS 53

MOBERLY Jon Gilliam 2 0-2 6, Ronnie Boggs 8 4-6 20, Daylen Robinson 4 3-4 13, Denmark McDonald 4 1-2 9, Cortez Connors 0 0-0 0, Nathan Bitner 1 2-2 5, Anthony Rule 1 0-0 2, Kenroy Wood 0 0-0 0, Rodney Givens 0 2-2 2 Team 20 12-18 57

INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 2 0-0 4, Derrick Hill 2 0-0 5, Dijon Farr 0 1-2 1, Bruno Ferreira 0 1-2 1, Riley Stuve 5 2-2 14, Chad Dillard 1 2-3 4, Gary Ricks, Jr. 4 3-4 12, Latroy Taylor 3 0-0 8, D.J. Bennett 2 0-1 4 Team 19 9-14 53

Halftime score: Moberly 27, Indian Hills 23; Three-point field goals: MACC 5 (Gilliam 2, Robinson 2, Bitner 1), IHCC 6 (Stuve 2, Taylor 2, Hill 1, Ricks 1)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Comeback Win Puts Warriors on Top

Ottumwa -- Indian Hills and Southeastern started Saturday night tied for first place in the conference standings. And even the most optimistic IHCC fan couldn't have felt very good about the Warriors' chances to end the evening all alone in first place after the visitors jumped out to a 17-point lead with just over 13 minutes to play.

But Indian Hills (20-6, 3-1), fueled by key contributions by no fewer than five players, came all the way back to steal a 65-64 win against the BlackHawks, a victory that leaves the Warriors one game ahead of both Southeastern (18-7, 2-2) and Marshalltown with two league games to play.

SCC had the Warriors on the ropes after sophomore Paris Gulley drilled a three-pointer to put his team ahead, 48-31, with 13:17 remaining. Gulley's basket ended a 12-1 run by SCC to give them a seemingly comfortable lead.

Gary Ricks, Jr. started the IHCC comeback with a pair of free throws and freshman Riley Stuve then made a series of big plays for the Warriors. Stuve hustled to get an offensive rebound after a missed dunk attempt. He made the putback and added a free throw after he was fouled on the play.

With the Warriors behind by 12, Stuve cut the deficit to single-digits with a three-pointer. Southeastern built the lead back up to 11, but Bruno Ferreira made three-of-four free throws and Stuve nailed another three to bring the Warriors back to within five at 55-50.

An SCC turnover was followed by a Chad Dillard layup and the Warriors were behind by three. Abby Ruple scored for the BlackHawks, but five quick points -- on a 3-pointer by Ricks and two free throws by Latroy Taylor -- allowed IHCC to tie the game at 57-all with a little under five minutes to play.

After a couple of free throws by Ruple, Indian Hills tallied on a free throw by Ferreira and a three by Ricks to take their first lead of the game at 61-59.

Rinaldo Mafra's tip-in for SCC tied it at 61. Taylor then scored from in close to give Indian Hills the lead for good.

Gulley was fouled on the next possession, but made only one of two free throws to leave the Warriors up by one. After an IHCC timeout, Ricks found Dijon Farr on the left baseline and Farr's short bank shot made it a three-point game at 65-62 with just over a minute to play.

Gulley went to the line seconds later and made both attempts to cut the lead to 65-64. Indian Hills had a shot clock violation with the BlackHawks awarded the ball out of bounds with 11 seconds left.

But Ruple's contested jump shot was off the mark and the Warriors escaped with the win.

Southeastern used two separate 8-0 runs in the opening half to pull away, leading by as many as 13 points at 28-15. Gulley then scored nine points early in the second half to allow the BlackHawks to increase the advantage.

One of the keys in the IHCC rally was free throw shooting. The Warriors didn't attempt a foul shot in the first half, but made 13-of-17 in the second half.

The Warriors played most of the game without their second-leading scorer, Jerome Jones, who was injured early in the first half. Jones suffered a hip-pointer when he took a hard fall while going for a rebound and didn't return to the lineup.

Ricks led the Indian Hills scoring with 17 points. Taylor had only his third double-digit scoring game of season with 14. Farr added 12 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Gulley led SCC with 20.

Indian Hills has its final two regular-season road games this week, at Moberly (Mo.) on Tuesday night and Iowa Western Saturday.

INDIAN HILLS 65, SOUTHEASTERN 64

INDIAN HILLS Stephen Coles 1 0-0 2, Jerome Jones 1 0-0 2, Derrick Hill 0 0-0 0, Dijon Farr 5 0-2 12, Bruno Ferreira 0 4-6 4, Riley Stuve 3 1-1 9, Chad Dillard 2 0-0 5, Gary Ricks, Jr. 6 2-2 17, Latroy Taylor 4 6-6 14, Giovanni Smith 0 0-0 0 Team 22 13-17 65

SOUTHEASTERN Abby Ruple 4 3-5 11, Paris Gulley 6 4-6 20, Mason Leggett 3 0-1 6, Mansa Habeeb 1 2-3 4, Rinaldo Mafra 6 1-2 13, Jordan Aaron 0 0-0 0, Bida Seck 2 0-0 4, Myles Fitten 1 0-0 3, Tyrie Orosco 1 1-1 3 Team 24 11-18 64

Halftime score: Southeastern 33, Indian Hills 25; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Ricks 3, Farr 2, Stuve 2, Dillard 1), SCC 5 (Gulley 4, Fitten 1)