Ottumwa -- Playing on its home court for the first time in 27 days, Indian Hills ran its home record to 10-0 with an 84-66 thrashing of John Wood CC on Friday night. The win was the 10th straight for the 6th-ranked Warriors, now 16-2 overall.
Indian Hills broke away from an early 11-11 deadlock on the strength of three consecutive 3-pointers -- the first by Maurice Calloo and the next two by Drake Jeffries. The Warriors ended the contest with 14 made threes, the 8th game in a row with at least 12 goals from behind the arc. Jeffries enjoyed his best scoring night of the season with 19 points and connected on five 3s. Chris Childs matched Jeffries with five 3s and 19 points. Calloo scored 15 and made three shots from distance.
The lead grew to 37-18 in the first period and the advantage was 12 at intermission.
The Warriors opened up an 18-point bulge in the second half at 55-37 before the Blazers responded with 10 straight points. IHCC met the challenge by scoring 17 of the next 19 points, with a three by Childs starting the run. When it ended the score was 74-49 and the Warriors had sealed the victory.
After shooting only 37 percent in the first 20 minutes, IHCC made 61 percent of its second-half shots to end the game at 49 percent from the field. John Wood was held to 34 percent shooting.
Malique Jacobs came off the bench to post a 10-point, 9-rebound game for the Warriors and he led them with 7 assists.
Indian Hills got freshman Chris Payton back from an illness and he chipped in 8 points and 6 rebounds after sitting out the previous three contests.
The Warriors are slated to play Kankakee (Ill.) on Saturday night in a final tuneup before conference play starts at Southeastern next Wednesday.
INDIAN HILLS 84, JOHN WOOD 66
INDIAN HILLS
Chris Payton 3 2-2 8, Maurice Calloo 4 4-4 15, Loseni Kamara 1 1-2 3, Chris Childs 6 2-2 19, Malique Jacobs 3 3-5 10, Tyon Grant-Foster 1 4-4 6, Drake Jeffries 6 2-2 19, Theo Bourgeois 0 0-0 0, Ben Lyon 0 0-0 0, Samba Kane 2 0-0 4 Team 26 18-21 84
JOHN WOOD
Chandler Bevans 10 3-5 23, Nick Rumbo 2 0-0 4, Aaron Shoot 2 2-2 7, Dallas Bryson 1 3-4 5, TJ Jackson 3 0-0 6, Ragar McKinney 3 0-0 8, Jarvis Jennings 1 3-6 5, Ja'Veon Taylor 1 0-0 3, Cooper Smith 2 0-0 4, Mohammed Fadika 0 1-2 1 Team 25 12-19 66
Halftime score: Indian Hills 39, John Wood 27; Three-point field goals: IHCC 14 (Childs 5, Jeffries 5, Calloo 3, Jacobs 1), JWCC 4 (McKinney 2, Shoot 1, Taylor 1)