On to Hutch! Warriors Blast Science

Ottumwa --- Playing in their first district title game in four years, the Indian Hills Warriors made the most of the opportunity by blistering visiting North Dakota State College of Science, 110-66, on Tuesday night to secure a spot in next week's NJCAA national tournament.

It will be the school's ninth trip to the national tourney and the first since the 2008 team finished 6th.

The Warriors showed no ill effects after a six-day layoff since clinching the Region 11 postseason title as they jumped on Science early. Eight different players scored points as the Warriors rolled to a quick 20-6 lead.

From there, the margin continued to grow as an inability to handle the IHCC pressure defense doomed the Wildcats' chances. They had 17 turnovers in the first half and 14 more in the second half.

A pair of free throws by Ronnie Stevens gave IHCC its first 20-point lead at 31-11 and Gary Ricks, Jr. ended a big first half with his 4th 3-pointer to send the Warriors off at halftime with a 28-point lead.

Any thoughts that NDSCS (27-5) may have had about getting back into the game in the second half quickly vanished as the determined Warriors ran off nine straight points to open the last half to build the lead to 72-35.

The lead was as large as 50 points late in the game with the Warriors cruising to their 30th win of the season against only three losses.

Six IHCC players scored in double figures, led by Ricks with 18. He added one more three in the second half and his five for the game give him 83 for the season and 155 for his career.

D.J. Bennett continued his late-season surge for the Warriors with 17 points. After scoring in double figures only three times in the first 25 games, Bennett has had 10 or more points in six of the last eight games.

Greg Tucker had 19 points to lead Science, 17 of those coming in the second half.

The Warriors have won their three postseason games by an average of nearly 25 points. They will begin play at the national tourney on Tuesday, March 20, against Monroe College, a team from New York with an identical 30-3 record.

INDIAN HILLS 110, NORTH DAKOTA STATE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE 66

INDIAN HILLS Brandon Spearman 5 1-2 13, Gary Ricks, Jr. 6 1-1 18, Michael Haynes 4 2-3 10, D.J. Bennett 7 3-5 17, Kieran Woods 0 1-2 1, Jameel McKay 4 2-4 10, Roderick Bobbitt 3 0-0 7, Dustin Hogue 4 2-5 10, Ronnie Stevens 2 4-6 8, Trinson White 2 0-0 6, Frank Williams 2 0-0 4, Rawane Ndiaye 2 0-0 4, Gary Ross 0 0-0 0, Tucker Henderson 1 0-0 2 Team 42 16-28 110

NDSCS Fred Joseph 4 0-0 9, Jon Mesghna 3 2-2 10, Joe Terfehr 2 0-0 4, Greg Tucker 8 2-5 19, Tommy Woolridge 3 0-0 7, Jerrod Brown 0 2-2 2, Jeremy Newton 1 0-3 2, Anthony Hendricks 1 2-3 4, Dantrell Edwards 3 2-3 8 Team 25 10-18 66

Halftime score: Indian Hills 63, NDSCS 35; Three-point field goals: IHCC 10 (Ricks 5; Spearman, White 2; Bobbitt 1), NDSCS 6 (Mesghna 2; Joseph, Tucker, Woolridge, Newton 1)