West Burlington, Iowa – In one of the biggest comebacks in school history, Indian Hills overcame a 24-point second-half deficit and knocked off Southeastern CC, 104-99, in double overtime at Loren Walker Arena on Saturday night.
The Warriors got a shot at the buzzer at the end of regulation from Jelan Kendrick to force the first overtime, a 3-pointer by Majok Deng to knot the score at the end of the first OT and then another three by Deng to go ahead for good in the second extra session to stay undefeated in conference play.
Third-ranked Indian Hills won its 12th game in a row and improved its league record to 7-0, clinching the outright title for the second year in a row.
Things looked bleak for the Warriors when SCC went on top 56-32 with three minutes gone in the second half. Jordan Stevens, who poured in a game-high 41 points, hit a 3-pointer to end the first half to give the Blackhawks a 51-28 halftime advantage. Stevens hit another three early in the second half and the Warriors were in serious trouble.
The IHCC comeback started with 12 consecutive points, six of them by Kendrick.
Indian Hills’ pressure defense started to cause SCC some problems and the Blackhawks, who had 21 field goals in the first half to just nine for IHCC, went cold from the field.
A dunk by Kendrick shaved the SCC lead to three with over 10 minutes to play and completed a 25-4 run for the visitors.
Southeastern, though, refused to give up the lead, holding off the Warriors thanks to Stevens and Warren Jones. Jones scored eight points in one two-minute stretch and his second straight three built the lead back to 12 at 76-64 with a little under five minutes left.
Indian Hills outscored the Blackhawks 16-4 the rest of regulation with Kendrick providing the heroics in the final seconds of the second half.
The SCC lead was 80-74 after Stevens made two foul shots with 19.4 seconds remaining.
Kendrick was fouled and hit one of two free throws with 14.2 seconds on the clock. After an SCC turnover Kendrick hit a 3-pointer to trim the lead to 80-78 with 6.2 seconds to play.
The Warriors fouled immediately and Stevens missed the front end of a one-and-one. Kendrick rebounded the errant foul shot, dribbled the length of the floor and hit a running shot in the lane at the horn to force overtime.
Frank Williams gave IHCC its first lead of the game when he opened the scoring in the first OT. But after Dontay Jackson scored on consecutive breakaway layups SCC was on top 89-84.
That’s when Deng stepped up for the Warriors. The freshman nailed one three to cut the lead to two, and after the Blackhawks made a free throw to make it 90-87, Deng buried another trey to send the game to a second OT.
Kendrick hit two free throws to start the next overtime. Joe Scott gave SCC a brief lead with a 3-pointer, but Deng sank another three and the Warriors didn’t trail again.
Stevens scored the final six points for his team, but with SCC trailing 101-98 with one minute to play, he made just one of two foul shots and the Warriors closed out the game with two free throws by Gary Williams, Jr. and one by Jameel McKay in the last 25 seconds.
McKay’s 30 points led Indian Hills. He had 16 points, Dustin Hogue 13 and Kendrick 12 in the second half when IHCC outscored the hosts 52-29.
Stevens made four threes at the end of the first half to cap a 20-point half for the freshman guard. Indian Hills’ nine first-half field goals and 28 points were lows for the season.
Southeastern jumped on the Warriors early, scoring the first ten points in just three minutes, and steadily building their advantage thanks in large part to the hot shooting of Stevens.
Most comebacks of the size of IHCC’s are fueled by 3-pointers, but Kendrick’s trey in the last minute of regulation was only the second of the game for the Warriors. Deng, then, drilled three in the overtimes.
The Blackhawks, 20-9 overall, close conference play with a 3-5 record and wait to see where they will be seeded for Region 11’s postseason tourney. The Warriors take a 26-2 record to Moberly (Mo.) on Tuesday for their final non-conference game of the regular season.
Indian Hills returns home to host Marshalltown CC on Saturday night. The Warriors will play their first postseason contest at home on Feb. 25 and, if they win, would host the region title game on Mar. 2.
Saturday’s game was marred by a melee at the end of the second overtime with players, coaches and fans from both teams filling the floor after the buzzer sounded. There were a number of brief flare-ups before order was finally restored.
INDIAN HILLS 104, SOUTHEASTERN 99 (2OT)
INDIAN HILLS
Jameel McKay 12 6-9 30, Richard Amardi 0 1-4 1, Trinson White 0 0-0 0, Dustin Hogue 7 7-13 21, Ronald Ross 1 1-3 3, Jelan Kendrick 6 3-4 16, Frank Williams 4 3-4 12, Ronnie Stevens 1 0-0 2, Gary Williams, Jr. 2 4-4 8, Martin Dixon-Green 0 0-0 0, Majok Deng 4 0-0 11 Team 37 25-41 104
SOUTHEASTERN
Warren Jones 5 0-0 12, Jordan Stevens 14 7-12 41, Tyrie Orosco 2 1-1 5, Ar-Tese Harris 2 0-0 4, Nick Lyon 0 0-2 0, Dontay Jackson 4 0-1 8, Marlon Cort 3 0-0 8, Joe Scott 4 1-2 11, Debonair Edwards 4 2-5 10 Team 38 11-23 99
Halftime score: Southeastern 51, Indian Hills 28; Three-point field goals: SCC 12 (Stevens 6; Jones, Cort, Scott 2), IHCC 5 (Deng 3; F. Williams, Kendrick 1)
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