Second Road Win Puts IHCC On Top in Region 11

Council Bluffs, IA -- Two conference road games. Two wins. A great way to start league play for the Indian Hills Warriors, who scored 91 points in each game in notching wins against Marshalltown and Iowa Western.

And with the conference season reduced to just four games, Indian Hills in the driver's seat as far as a possible league title is concerned with home games against MCC and IWCC all that's left in the Region 11 schedule.

On Saturday, Indian Hills saw a big second-half lead against the Reivers whittled to just four points with under a minute to play. Brandon Spearman was finally fouled with 8.1 seconds left to play as the Warriors played keep-away for over 10 seconds after inbounding the ball with 19.3 seconds left.

Spearman calmly dropped in both free throws to provide the final margin in IHCC's 21st win of the season.

The Warriors had a seemingly comfortable 16-point lead at 71-55 after Gary Ricks, Jr. nailed his 4th of five 3-pointers on the night. Ricks tallied a season-high 19 points to pace the Indian Hills scoring.

But the Warriors were unable to hold on to the big lead, thanks to some fast-break baskets by Iowa Western and numerous IHCC mistakes.

Indian Hills was still ahead 85-70 when the Reivers put together an 8-1 run to get the deficit to single digits. They continued to creep closer and got to 87-83 and then 89-85 after a basket by Antonio Levy.

That's when Spearman iced it for the Warriors.

After the game, IHCC coach Barret Peery said he thought his team might have played its best half of basketball in the first 20 minutes.

The Warriors led early by five points, saw IWCC tie the score five times in the first half, and then IHCC rattled off the final 12 points of the half to go in at halftime on top by 53-41.

The Warriors shot 63% in the first half and only turned the ball over eight times, a vast improvement over recent games.

They wound up shooting 53% for the game and made 8-of-17 three-pointers.

Jameel McKay had his second straight 19-point outing in the conference and tied Ricks for team-high scoring honors. Devin Brooks led all scorers with 22 for the Reivers.

Indian Hills will take on Moberly Area CC on Tuesday night at home and won't play another league game until they host Marshalltown on Feb. 11.

INDIAN HILLS 91, IOWA WESTERN 85

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 2 2-2 7, Gary Ricks, Jr. 6 2-2 15, Michael Haynes 3 2-5 8, D.J. Bennett 1 0-0 2Kieran Woods 1 0-0 2, Jameel McKay 8 3-6 19, Roderick Bobbitt 5 2-3 12, Dustin Hogue 4 3-8 11, Ronnie Stevens 1 0-2 2, Trinson White 3 1-2 9 Team 34 15-30 91

IOWA WESTERN Xavier Munford 6 1-3 13, Alonzo Traylor 6 4-5 16, Devin Brooks 8 6-8 22, Kelvin Dixon 7 1-3 15, Antonio Levy 4 1-2 9, Bernard Brame 1 1-3 3, Wil Martinez 1 0-0 3, Tavian Pomlee 0 1-2 1, Brock Lutes 1 1-2 3 Team 34 16-28 85

Halftime score: Indian Hills 53, Iowa Western 41; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Ricks 5, White 2, Spearman 1), IWCC 1 (Martinez 1)