Ottumwa -- Indian Hills ended Dawson CC's 17-game winning streak and clinched their 7th straight national tournament trip with a 92-65 romp past the Buccaneers at the Hellyer Center on Thursday night in the North Central District championship game. The automatic bid for what will be the program's 16th visit to Hutch came as a result of the Warriors' handing Dawson their first loss since late December. IHCC will take a 13-game winning streak of their own to the national tourney. The Warriors have won 24 of their last 25 games after suffering a pair of one-point defeats in Niceville, Fla. in November.
Dawson came into the district contest averaging 92 points per game, and that was the final victory margin for the Warriors, who held the visitors to 34 percent shooting, just 28 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Tyon Grant-Foster capped a 19-point first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send Indian Hills off at intermission leading 57-37. Grant-Foster wound up with 29 points on his 20th birthday. He got help from Malique Jacobs who scored 14, Chris Payton 11 and Drake Jeffries 10.
Indian Hills hammered the smaller Bucs on the glass, 53-34, while improving their alltime record in district title games to 13-3.
The Bucs, a team averaging nearly 10 made threes per game, came out firing. Their first five made field goals were all from behind the arc. When Man Man Baker splashed in their 5th triple -- from five different players -- Dawson trailed 19-15. It was 26-23 before the Warriors used a 17-3 spurt to break the game open, a run that began with a Grant-Foster bucket.
Jacobs, who has reached double figures in each of the last seven games, scored to begin the second period. Kell Schwers answered with a 3-pointer for Dawson to make it a 19-point difference, but that was the closest the margin was in the second half.
Baker led Dawson with his 13 points and Camron Dunfee added 11.
The victory ended an undefeated home season for the Warriors, who won 21 straight on their home court, marking the 11th time they have played an entire home slate without a loss. It was win number-30 for the season, the 13th season of at least 30 victories for the Warriors.
Indian Hills earned the automatic spot in the national tournament field and will learn their seed in this year's event on Monday.
INDIAN HILLS 92, DAWSON 65
INDIAN HILLS (30-3)
Chris Payton 5 1-1 11, Maurice Calloo 3 0-2 7, Tyrese Nickelson 1 0-0 3, Loseni Kamara 0 0-0 0, Chris Childs 3 1-2 9, Malique Jacobs 5 4-6 14, Tyon Grant-Foster 11 4-8 29, Drake Jeffries 3 2-3 10, JD Muila 1 1-2 3, Ben Lyon 1 0-0 2, Samba Kane 2 0-1 4 Team 35 13-25 92
DAWSON (27-7)
Camron Dunfee 5 0-0 11, Beau Santistevan 1 0-0 2, Man Man Baker 4 4-4 13, CJ Nelson 3 0-0 8, Devin Collins 2 0-0 6, Kolten Hitt 2 0-0 6, Roulervee Vann 1 0-0 2, Kell Schwers 2 0-0 5, Charles Lampten 2 2-2 7, Jaron Masis 0 0-0 0, Kayden Hitt 1 2-2 5 Team 23 8-8 65
Halftime score: Indian Hills 57, Dawson 37; Three-point field goals: IHCC 9 (Grant-Foster 3, Childs 2, Jeffries 2, Calloo 1, Nickelson 1); DCC 11 (Nelson 2, Ko. Hitt 2, Collins 2, Dunfee 1, Baker 1, Schwers 1, Lampten 1, Ka. Hitt 1)