Ottumwa -- Indian Hills was finally able to pull away from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in the final minutes of the first half and the Warriors went on to take care of the Golden Norsemen, 81-67, in the Bowling RV/Courtside Classic at the Hellyer Center on Saturday night.
The first half featured eight lead changes and five ties, the last one at 25-25. IHCC grabbed the lead, and then got an important contribution from freshman James Jean-Marie on both ends of the floor. Jean-Marie had four field goals in the latter stages of the opening half and already owned a double-double at halftime with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He wound up with a dozen points and 13 boards as the Warriors upped their season record to 6-0.
Antonio "Booman" Williams tied his season high with 19 points to lead the Warriors. Ivan Aurrecoechea scored 12, Tomas Woldetensae 11 and Shane Gatling 10 for No. 6 Indian Hills.
Jeremiah Morris topped NEO with 19.
NEO took their final lead at 23-21 on a 3-pointer by Tyjuan Johnson and, then, Jean-Marie went to work inside, taking advantage of extended minutes off the bench. He had a tip dunk to push the lead to 37-29 and, moments later, scored inside to give the Warriors their largest first-half advantage, 41-29.
Indian Hills, which committed 13 turnovers in the opening half, never let the Golden Norse back in the game in the last 20 minutes, getting nine points from Williams and eight by Aurrecoechea.
Gatling drilled two 3-pointers and now has a team-leading 19 for the season.
NEO managed only 3-of-20 shooting from 3-point range and shot 39 percent overall. The Warriors made 51 percent of their field goal attempts and pounded NEO on the boards, 47-24.
Indian Hills is idle until playing in the Moberly Thanksgiving Classic next weekend. They'll take on State Fair at 3:00 Friday afternoon and the host Greyhounds at 7 on Saturday night.
INDIAN HILLS 81, NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA A&M 67
INDIAN HILLS
Ivan Aurrecoechea 5 2-2 12, Jamel Allen 4 0-0 9, Antonio Williams 7 4-9 19, Tomas Woldetensae 4 0-0 11, Shane Gatling 4 0-0 10, Connor Murrell 1 0-0 3, Devontae Lane 1 1-1 3, Rob Montgomery 1 0-0 2, James Jean-Marie 6 0-0 12, Javier Valeiras 0 0-0 0 Team 33 7-12 81
NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA A&M
Ravel Moody 5 3-4 13, David Thornton 5 1-2 11, Kyle Lukasiewicz 0 2-2 2, Cedric Ward 1 0-0 2, Valentin Van Putten 1 0-0 2, Dylan Van Eyck 1 1-2 3, Jeremiah Morris 6 5-5 19, Alex Taylor 4 2-2 10, Josh Humphries 1 0-1 2, Tyjuan Johnson 1 0-0 3 Team 25 14-18 67
Halftime score: Indian Hills 43, NEO 34; Three-point field goals: IHCC 8 (Woldetensae 3, Gatling 2, Allen 1, Williams 1, Murrell 1), NEO 3 (Morris 2, Johnson 1)