CSI Hands Warriors First Loss

Twin Falls, ID -- In a matchup between two teams ranked in top seven in the nation in the preseason poll, Southern Idaho withstood a late Indian Hills rally in regulation and pulled out a 96-87 overtime decision over the Warriors on CSI's homecourt Saturday night.

The loss was the first of the season for the Warriors, ranked 5th in the preseason and 4th in this week's poll and winners of their first seven games.  Southern Idaho, the No. 7-rated team going into the season, improved to 7-2.

Ronald Ross helped Indian Hills come back from a 78-65 deficit in the final five minutes of the second half.  Ross buried three 3s in that period and his final 3 tied the game at 80-80 with 33 seconds to play.

Montigo Alford, who had suffered a heel injury in the first half and returned to action in the second stanza, missed a jumper as time expired to send the game into overtime.  Alford's 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining in overtime, a shot that just beat the shot clock buzzer, gave CSI the lead for good at 85-83.

The Golden Eagles then scored four straight points to go ahead 89-83 and the Warriors didn't get closer than four points after that.

After struggling at the free throw line the first 40 minutes, CSI knocked down 7-of-10 foul shots in OT.

Southern Idaho started fast, jumping out to a 13-4 lead in a little more than seven minutes of play.  They led 23-16 with 8:20 left in the half, but IHCC's full-court pressure started to pay off.  The Warriors took their first lead since Jameel McKay's opening basket on a field goal by Frank Williams that made the score 27-25. 

Indian Hills stretched the lead to 38-31 by halftime and led for the first three minutes of the second half.

Southern Idaho then ran off 11 straight points and eventually built the lead to the 13-point margin they owned before Ross' heroics for Indian Hills.

Although forcing 19 CSI turnovers, the Warriors were hurt by their own inability to take care of the ball with 25 turnovers.

McKay had a huge night in a losing cause for IHCC, scoring 19 points and picking off a career-high 20 rebounds.  Justin Moss also had 19 points and Dustin Hogue tallied nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Jaysean Paige led CSI with 24 points and Kareem Storey added 18.

Indian Hills has six of its next seven games before Christmas at home, starting with a contest next Friday night against Ellsworth CC.

SOUTHERN IDAHO 96, INDIAN HILLS 87 OT

INDIAN HILLS 

Jameel McKay 6 7-13 19, Richard Amardi 2 0-1 4, Trinson White 3 0-0 7, Dustin Hogue 4 1-5 9, Ronald Ross 4 0-0 11, Jelan Kendrick 1 3-4 5, Justin Moss 7 5-5 19, Frank Williams 3 2-2 9, Ronnie Stevens 0 4-6 4, Gary Ross 0 0-0 0  Team 30 22-36 87

SOUTHERN IDAHO

Jaysean Paige 10 4-6 24, Kareem Storey 6 6-12 18, Montigo Alford 3 3-5 10, Billy Reader 4 2-4 10, James Reid 2 0-0 6, Juwan Newman 5 1-2 11, Darius Johnson 2 3-6 8, Jon Pulsifer 2 1-2 5, Kennedy Esume 2 0-0 4, Trevor Ritchie 0 0-2 0  Team 36 20-29 96

Halftime score: Indian Hills 38, Southern Idaho 31; Score at the end of regulation: 80-80; Three-point field goals: IHCC 5 (R. Ross 3; Williams, White 1), CSI 4 (Reid 2; Alford, Johnson 1)