Vincennes Hands Warriors Second Loss

Vincennes, IN -- In a game that featured 10 ties and 25 lead changes, Vincennes used the last of those lead changes to grab an advantage in the final three minutes and the Trailblazers held off a late rally by Indian Hills to knock off the third-ranked Warriors, 86-79, at the P.E. Complex on Tuesday night.

Vincennes scored 10 straight points after IHCC's Jameel McKay had put his team on top, 73-70, with a basket with under three minutes remaining.

Deshawn Delaney, who had 27 points, scored the final five points in VU's 10-0 run on a dunk and a three-point play.

Trailing 80-73 -- which equaled the largest lead for either team in the game -- Indian Hills got a bucket from Michael Haynes and a pair of free throws from Brandon Spearman, to get to with four points at 80-77. Delaney hit one of two foul shots to make it a four-point game with under a minute to play.

Roderick Bobbitt's two free throws four seconds later at it was a two-point game, 81-79, with 32.6 seconds on the clock.

Indian Hills then forced a VU turnover and Bobbitt was fouled on a shot attempt. The Warriors had made 15-of-16 free throws at that point and Bobbitt had a chance to tie the score. But he missed both attempts from the line.

Darius Carter rebounded the second miss and was fouled. Carter, who had started the earlier 10-point burst for the Trailblazers with a 15-footer, made both free throws with 26.8 seconds remaining.

Following a Warrior miss, Vincennes hit three-of-four charity tosses in the final seconds and got the win, avenging an earlier 84-73 loss to Indian Hills.

The Warriors scored the final seven points of the first half in a 30-second span to take a 40-38 lead at intermission. Gary Ricks, Jr. buried a three-pointer, one of four in the game for the sophomore guard, just before the buzzer to send the Warriors off with a halftime lead.

Indian Hills started the second half by using the momentum gained from the 7-0 run to end the first half. Spearman hit back-to-back field goals to give IHCC its biggest lead of the night at 44-38.

After Vincennes came back to the score at 44-all with six consecutive points, neither team was able to lead by more than four points, until VU grabbed the late seven-point lead at 80-73.

Ronald Ross and Delaney gave the Trailblzars a lethal one-two punch with 28 and 27 points, respectively. Carter added 16 to give VU 71 points from its three talented freshmen.

McKay topped the Warriors with 15; Ricks had 12 on his four 3s and Spearman scored 11.

Indian Hills made three more field goals than the home team, but Vincennes enjoyed a big advantage at the free throw line, outscoring the Warriors 28-15 there in 22 more attempts than IHCC.

The result leaves both teams with identical records of 23-2 and each is 15-0 at home.

Indian Hills will be at home on Saturday night against Marshalltown CC in a return to conference action for the Warriors, who are 2-0 in the league with two games remaining.

VINCENNES 86, INDIAN HILLS 79

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 4 3-3 11, Gary Ricks, Jr. 4 0-0 12, Michael Haynes 3 0-0 6, D.J. Bennett 0 0-0 0, Kieran Woods 1 0-0 2, Jameel McKay 6 3-3 15, Roderick Bobbitt 1 4-6 6, Dustin Hogue 3 3-4 9, Ronnie Stevens 4 2-2 10, Trinson White 1 0-0 3, Frank Williams 1 0-0 3, Rawane Ndiaye 1 0-0 2 Team 29 15-18 79

VINCENNES Kendall Vieke 2 0-0 6, Darius Carter 5 6-8 16, Deshawn Delaney 10 7-11 27, Ronald Ross 8 8-12 28, Bryant Smith 1 0-0 2, Jerrod Gaston 0 3-3 3, Ray Lester 0 2-4 2, Lamine Dieng 0 2-2 Team 26 28-40 86

Halftime score: Indian Hills 40, Vincennes 38; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Ricks 4; White, Williams 1), VU 6 (Ross 4, Vieke 2)