CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – Coach Hank Plona knew this one wouldn't be easy.
And it most certainly wasn't.
His team absorbed every blow that Kirkwood dished out on this night, and yet found a way to pull ahead in the waning moments, handing No. 12-rated Indian Hills its fourth-straight victory and what the coach would call a second landmark road win in the last eight days as the Warriors toppled Kirkwood, 78-70 at Johnson Hall.
IHCC (4-1) only trailed once the entire night after posting a thirteen-point lead on three different occasions in the first half. With under nine minutes to play, the host Eagles (3-2), who had been clawing back all night despite the Warriors' best effort, finally captured the lead as Corvon Seales dropped in his third 3-pointer of the night to hand IHCC their first deficit of the game at 63-61.
It would be the Warriors last deficit.
Sophomore leader Tyrese Nickelson answered the call and calmly stroked a three-ball of his own right in front of the Warrior bench to send Plona's troops back ahead at 64-63 and they would never trail again.
"I told the guys after the game that we were up most of the way, but when Kirkwood took that lead, a lot of team would have folded right there." Plona said. "Then Tyrese hit that three from the wing and we tried to stay on top the rest of the way."
The closest the Eagles would get from there on out would be at the 2:25 mark when a Blake Brinkmeyer turnaround jumper pulled Kirkwood to within 71-70, but a Warrior flurry spearheaded by a nifty backhanded layup by Taj Anderson, a rim-rattling dunk from Tyem Freeman and a pair of free throws from Braxton Bayless and another from Gabe Oliveira that went unanswered as the Warriors escaped with the victory.
"Any team in the country would have had a difficult time coming in here and winning. That is as good of an early-season road win as we're going to get," Plona noted in a similar refrain from his excitement after a key road eight days prior in Burlington against rival Southeastern. "I'm so proud of this team's resolve and toughness. These last eight days we've gotten two unbelievably tough road wins. Obviously it's a heck of a start for our team."
Speaking of starts, Plona's Warriors came out of the chutes like a house on fire, leading 17-4 over the NJCAA Division II No. 4-rated team. IHCC held the same margins at 26-13 and 34-21 in the first half, before Kirkwood would battle back to within three at intermission, 40-37.
The Eagles featured a pair of solid post players in Brinkmeyer (11 pts) and Jaden Keller (20 pts) and game planned to go inside to take advantage of IHCC's lack of size on the interior. As a result, sophomore Gabe Oliveira had to step up to provide additional muscle inside.
"We told the guys at half that they should be thanking Gabe right now," Plona noted. "Gabe probably played the last 10 to 12 minutes of the game and he was playing rim-to-rim and was getting driven at every possession. The things Gabe did tonight to help us win were incredible. Brinkmeyer is a hell of a player, and Keller had a heck of a game. They tried to pound the ball inside and Chris (Payton) is still trying to work himself back into shape, but man did Gabe step up to help us. It was a heck of an effort by him."
IHCC was led by Freeman and Anderson in scoring with the freshmen notching 23 and 19 points, respectively. Freeman continued his string of stat-sheet stuffing performances as he added seven boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Curtis Jones put together another solid floor game with eight points, six points, five assists and two steals. Levar Williams added eight points, Payton seven, and Nickelson and Bayless added six a piece.
"They tried to keep us in front of them and dare us to shoot, and that becomes kind of 1-on-1 basketball, and those two (Freeman & Anderson) are our two best 1-on-1 players," Plona added. "Those two guys continue to use all aspects of their game. Additionally, I was pleased that Curt (Jones) continues to be our leader on the floor, and I thought Levar (Williams) was great in the first half. He made a couple shots and made a couple of plays defensively. All-in-all a great team effort."
When pressed about how his Warriors approached an opponent with such a contrasting style, Plona said he has his team focused on what they do, not what the team in the other jersey does.
"We wanted to full-court pressure, and we wanted to bring our game to them," Plona explained. "We wanted to do what we do better than they what they do. We are who we are and we're going to become the best version of who we are. Our guys have bought into that. I thought we'd have to play our best to win and I don't know that 99 percent of our best would have been good enough to get it done tonight."
The Warriors get their next chance to bring their attack to the floor on Saturday as IHCC hosts Northeast at 3 p.m. at the Hellyer Center.