Still Unbeaten in the League, Warriors Maul MCC

Ottumwa --- This one was over early. Indian Hills opened up a 15-point lead just over halfway through the first half, led by 23 at intermission and expanded the margin to as many as 36 points in the second half on the way to a 77-46 rout of Marshalltown Community College at the Hellyer Center on Saturday night.

It was the third win without a loss in Region 11 play for Indian Hills and leaves MCC winless in three league games.

The points allowed were the fewest scored by an IHCC opponent this year and the lowest point total for Marshalltown.

The visiting Tigers suffered through a miserable night shooting -- they were 19-of-66 from the field (29%), missed all 15 of their 3-point tries, and hit only 8-of-24 free throw attempts. In addition, they were forced into 24 turnovers.

Indian Hills scored the first five points of the game. Marshalltown answered with back-to-back field goals, but that was the only offense the Tigers could muster in the first nine minutes.

The Warriors ran off nine straight points on a layup by Rawane Ndiaye, a three by Gary Ricks, Jr. and consecutive baskets by D.J. Bennett.

The 3-pointer was the first of four in the opening half for Ricks who increased his season total to 65 and career mark to 138. He didn't score in the second half, but tied Bennett for team scoring honors.

Bennett had a season-high 12 points and matched his career high.

With just over four minutes to play in the first half, Ricks had 12 points and Bennett had 10 while MCC had scored only 11 total.

The Warriors limited MCC to just 16 points in the first half, taking a 39-16 lead at halftime. The largest lead for IHCC was 36 points.

Indian Hills will play a road contest at Moberly (Mo.) on Tuesday night and then return home to wrap up conference play against Iowa Western next Saturday night.

INDIAN HILLS 77, MARSHALLTOWN 46

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 2 4-5 9, Gary Ricks, Jr. 4 0-0 12, Michael Haynes 2 0-0 4, D.J. Bennett 4 4-4 12, Kieran Woods 2 0-0 4, Jameel McKay 5 0-1 10, Roderick Bobbitt 3 0-1 7, Dustin Hogue 2 3-3 7, Ronnie Stevens 2 0-0 4, Trinson White 0 0-0 0, Frank Williams 1 0-2 2, Rawane Ndiaye 3 0-0 6, Gary Ross 0 0-0 0, Tucker Henderson 0 0-0 0 Team 30 11-16 77

MARSHALLTOWN Keith Coleman 4 0-3 8, Marcus Bell 2 1-4 5, Nilson Santana 4 4-5 12, Sherman Blanford 3 1-2 7, Rashaad Brown-Peterson 4 2-5 10, Derrick Stewart 1 0-2 2, Matej Delinac 1 0-3 2, Kyle Calhoun 0 0-0 0, Jerome Gray 0 0-0 0 Team 19 8-24 46

Halftime score: Indian Hills 39, Marshalltown 16; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Ricks, Jr. 4; Spearman, Bobbitt 1), MCC 0