Council Bluffs, Iowa -- Indian Hills capped the third unbeaten regular season in program history on Saturday night with an 87-72 win at Iowa Western. The victory pushes the Warriors' record to 30-0. IHCC also won 30 in a row heading into postseason play in 1997-98, when they went on to claim the school's second consecutive national championship, and in 2006-07.
The Warriors never trailed in handling the Reivers for the second time this season. They jumped out to a quick 14-6 lead and were up 34-24 after an Ivan Aurrecoechea basket with 8:39 to play in the opening period. Iowa Western came to life with an 8-0 spurt and the Reivers were within two before Antonio "Booman" Williams scored on a breakaway dunk and Aurrecoechea tallied back-to-back hoops to close out the first half.
Aurrecoechea had an outstanding effort with 21 points and 12 rebounds, recording his 4th straight double-double against Iowa Western.
Rob Montgomery dropped in a pair of free throws, Shane Gatling made one, Aurrecoechea scored inside and Tomas Woldetensae nailed a 3-pointer to begin the second half and that run of eight straight points gave the Warriors plenty of breathing room for the rest of the night. The margin was never fewer than 10 points after the Warriors took the 48-34 advantage.
Gatling scored 16 and Williams 15 for IHCC. The Warriors were efficient on offense, shooting 56 percent from the field and committing only nine turnovers.
Shadeed Shabazz came off the bench to top the Reivers with 27 points. Patrick Dembley added 20 for IWCC, now 24-6.
It was the third regular-season conference titles in as many years for coach Hank Plona, the Warriors finishing three full games in front of Iowa Western.
Indian Hills hosts the winner of Monday's game between Marshalltown and Northeast (Neb.) on Wednesday night at 7:00 at the Hellyer Center. Another possible matchup with Iowa Western could take place next Saturday night, provided the Warriors take care of business at home Wednesday and the Reivers get by Southeastern, also on Wednesday night.
INDIAN HILLS 87, IOWA WESTERN 72
INDIAN HILLS
Ivan Aurrecoechea 10 1-5 21, Jamel Allen 2 4-7 8, Antonio Williams 6 3-4 15, Tomas Woldetensae 2 0-0 6, Shane Gatling 4 5-8 16, Devontae Lane 3 0-0 7, Corey Manigault 2 1-1 6, Rob Montgomery 2 2-2 6, James Jean-Marie 1 0-0 2 Team 32 16-28 87
IOWA WESTERN
Patrick Dembley 7 4-5 20, Jevon Smith 3 0-0 7, Isaiah Wade 4 1-2 9, Decardo Day 0 0-0 0, Shadeed Shabazz 8 6-6 27, Adalberto Diaz 0 0-0 0, Shaun Doss 1 2-5 4, Rhyss Lewis 1 0-0 3, Emmanuel Ugbog 1 0-0 2, Tony Chukwuemeke 0 0-2 0 Team 25 13-20 72
Halftime score: Indian Hills 40, Iowa Western 34; Three-point field goals: IHCC 7 (Gatling 3, Woldetensae 2, Manigault 1, Lane 1), IWCC 9 (Shabazz 5, Dembley 2, Smith 1, Lewis 1)