OTTUMWA, IA – For the first time in nine contests, Indian Hills tasted defeat as DMACC spoiled the Warriors eight-game win streak with a 75-64 victory on IHCC's home floor.
The No. 8-rated Warriors fell behind 8-0 less than three minutes in against the NJCAA Division II No. 5-rated Bears, and while the hosts would climb back in it, it was a harbinger of the battle that they would be facing all night.
"We knew they were a very good team, and they certainly played like one tonight," said IHCC Head Coach Hank Plona.
Poor shooting plagued the Warriors all evening, as the high-flying offense that has averaged over 90 points per contest this season would never materialize in this game. Despite hitting on 3-of-26 three-pointers, a paltry 11 percent, IHCC fought its way back from a nine-point first-half deficit to grab a lead at intermission, 36-33.
"We were able to survive and battle back in the first half," Plona added. "I was pleased with our fight over the first 20 minutes."
The second stanza was nearly a carbon copy of the first as Plona's troops again had trouble finding the mark from the field. It was almost seven minutes into the second half before a Chris Payton dunk got the Warriors back on the board, but their lead had evaporated, now trailing the Bears, 41-38.
IHCC would claw back to tie the score at 43 after a Taj Anderson trey with 11:40 remaining, but that's as good as it would get for the Warriors, as the Bears would eventually lead by as many as 13 with 6:25 left in the contest.
"The beginning of both halves really hurt us," Plona lamented. "We came out again in the second half with a poor effort and winning teams don't get away with that twice in the same game."
Despite one of their worst performances of the season, a glance up at the scoreboard at the Hellyer Center with just over three minutes to play somehow showed the Warriors within just four at 62-58 after six straight points from Payton capped an 8-0 IHCC run, but that's as close as DMACC would allow the hosts to get the rest of the way.
"This was obviously a game that we have to learn from," Plona said. "I don't think we beat them in any part of the game… from coaching and preparation, to how we executed on the floor."
While neither team was sparkling from the field (DMACC 37.5 percent, IHCC 33.8 percent), the Bears did nail 14-of-27 from distance for the contest, which was good enough for 51.9 percent, over 40 percentage points better than the Warriors.
"The 3-point shooting difference stands out for sure," Plona added. "DMACC was patient, moved the ball, and made us over commit and were able to get great looks as a result. I thought we became impatient, didn't play with the same pace and aggressiveness that we had over the past few games, and we took some very difficult shots. We need to guard the 3-point line far better than we did tonight, and work harder to get better looks on our offensive end."
Freshman Tyem Freeman again led the Warriors in scoring as the Springfield, Missouri product netted 22 off the bench. Payton added double-double of 15 points and 12 boards while logging a season-high 32 minutes. Taj Anderson had 13 points as IHCC had just three double-figure scorers.
Ryan Schmitt led DMACC (8-2) with 17 points as the Bears were just one point from seeing all five starters hit double-digits. Mark Bradshaw had 16, Christian Haffner 15, Willie Guy 11 and Zach Hobbs added 9.
"We are still a work in progress and we have another month of our season to figure out who we are as a team," Plona noted. "The games keep coming fast, so we'll have to learn while playing. Hopefully, we will see significant progress on Thursday night."
Indian Hills (8-2) hosts Iowa Western (5-5) on Thursday in what will be a quick turnaround for both squads. The Reivers defeated Iowa Central, 85-54 Tuesday night in Council Bluffs. IWCC will be looking to atone from an 85-49 drubbing that the Warriors put on them two weeks ago on the Reivers' home court.