Bounce Back For Warriors at Marshalltown

Marshalltown, IA -- Indian Hills coach Barret Peery was understandably anxious going into Saturday night's game at Marshalltown. It was the conference opener and with only four league games this year there is added importance each time a team plays a Region 11 foe.

squad handled adversity, in this case its first loss of the season earlier in the week at Missouri State-West Plains.

And after a slow start, the Warriors answered the challenge very nicely with a 91-73 win against the Tigers that gives IHCC a head start in the race for the conference title.

Brandon Spearman scored all 15 of his points over the final 12 minutes as the Warriors pulled away down the stretch to record their 20th win of the season, becoming the first NJCAA Division I school with 20 victories.

And for one night, Indian Hills put the memories of their 17-point loss in Missouri on Tuesday night behind them.

IHCC was looking at an early 7-1 deficit, but a three-point play by Jameel McKay, who led the Warriors with 19 points, capped an 8-0 run and gave Indian Hills its first lead.

Later in the half, Indian Hills used a 13-1 spurt to take a 14-point lead and the margin was 11 at the half after McKay scored twice in the final minute of the half, the first basket on a dunk off a lob from Roderick Bobbitt and the second on a nice feed from Spearman with McKay's layup just beating the buzzer.

Trinson White opened the second-half scoring for IHCC with a free throw, and then MCC rattled off 10 straight points, a run that ended with a dunk by Rashaad Brown after an Indian Hills turnover.

The IHCC lead was still two points when Bobbitt got the Warriors' first goal of the second half, a 3-pointer, with just under 14 minutes to play. Bobbitt's three started a 12-2 run to give the Warriors a double-digit lead at 65-53. Spearman had back-to-back field goals, one a three, in that run, and he later had four straight buckets as Indian Hills pulled away down the stretch.

Despite making two fewer field goals than the Tigers, Indian Hills had a huge edge at the free throw line, making 29-of-43 attemts to just 10-of-22 for the home team.

Derrick Stewart had 21 points to lead Marshalltown (7-14, 0-1). McKay's 19 led four double-figure scorers for the Warriors (20-1, 1-0).

Indian Hills now has a week to prepare for its next game, another conference road contest at Iowa Western.

INDIAN HILLS 91, MARSHALLTOWN 73

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 5 2-4 15, Gary Ricks, Jr. 3 1-2 10, DeAndray Buckley 0 1-2 1, Michael Haynes 3 0-0 6, D.J. Bennett 2 4-5 8, Kieran Woods 1 0-0 2, Jameel McKay 6 7-9 19, Roderick Bobbitt 2 6-7 11, Dustin Hogue 2 5-8 9, Ronnie Stevens 2 1-2 5, Trinson White 1 2-4 5 Team 27 29-43 91

MARSHALLTOWN Keith Coleman 2 0-0 4, Marcus Bell 3 2-2 8, Nilson Santana 4 0-4 8, Sherman Blanford 3 1-2 7, Rashaad Brown 6 0-0 12, Matej Delinac 2 0-0 5, D.J. Anderson 2 4-8 8, Derrick Stewart 7 3-6 21 Team 29 10-22 73
Halftime score: Indian Hills 50, Marshalltown 39; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Spearman, Ricks 3; Bobbitt, White 1), MCC 5 (Stewart 4, Delinac 1)