OTTUMWA – No. 8-rated Indian Hills completed the season sweep of rival Iowa Western Thursday night with a 76-65 ICCAC win over the Reivers at the Hellyer Center.
It didn't come without a struggle, however.
The shooting woes that led to a loss to DMACC on Tuesday, seemed to carry over to the first half against Iowa Western as the Warriors didn't get to 20 points until just over three minutes remained on the clock before intermission.
Fortunately for IHCC, the Reivers were struggling as well.
Indian Hills managed to parlay a 29 percent shooting effort from the field into a 25-23 lead at the half, due in large part to Iowa Western's attempt to match the Warriors anemic offense output.
"I think we put a lot of mental pressure on ourselves to come back from a loss," said Indian Hills Head Coach Hank Plona. "I thought we guarded very well tonight. When you respond to a loss and you hold a team to 23 points at half, you've got to feel pretty good about that. We held them to 23 points at their place (an 85-49 IHCC win, Feb. 10 at Council Bluffs). In that breath, we played very well. Now, did we turn that in to offense for us? No, not quite."
After what Warrior standout Chris Payton would call an "inspiring" discussion at halftime, the hosts were sparked to a much better offensive performance in the second stanza, as IHCC looked more like the team that its fans have come to expect in pumping out 51 points on 58 percent shooting to finally pull away from the upset-minded Reivers.
The biggest lead of the game was 11 by Indian Hills, and that didn't come until the waning seconds of the contest after it was a mere four-point Warrior advantage with five minutes to play.
"I think we were in a little bit of a funk, especially on offense," Plona explained. "In one breath you could say we're 11 games in, and we're midway through the season, and we should be a finished form. In a normal year, we're one month into the season and we're definitely trying to figure it out, and that happens one month into the season."
"Our guys get scouted a little bit, and teams get us taken out of our rhythm, out of our flow. We're playing a lot of games very fast and our bodies are feeling it. It's a combination of everything, and as a coach, it's tricky for us. And by us, I mean all of us coaches. Even Duke and Kentucky are struggling and I always tell myself when that happens to them you can think, 'who am I?' Our job now as a coaching staff is to get us back on a fast-paced high-scoring track."
Who the Warriors are is a bit more of a moving target since the departure of post player Gabe Oliveira, whose absence continues to have Plona scrambling a bit to find the right combinations with his reshuffled deck of options.
"Gabe is just a very unselfish offensive player," Plona added. "He's willing to screen, hang down below the blocks, willing to offensive rebound. There's just a lot that he does that will allow us to play the way we want to play, and we've definitely had to make a change. So there's no doubt, Gabe's injury has affected our team. We're not sitting here at 9-2 without Gabe."
One attempt at shaking things up a bit after the loss on Tuesday was to insert Tyem Freeman, the team's leading scorer, and Braxton Bayless into the starting lineup against the Reivers.
"Any time after a loss, you try to change the routine, change the rhythm a little bit," Plona said of the new lineup. "We have confidence and a belief in all of our guys, and we were just trying to put a different group out there."
Bayless responded with 10 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds in his debut in the starting five.
"Brax is playing extremely hard," Plona said. "We started him because on tape, his intensity has been the best on the team, and we're trying to reward guys for doing things that we're looking for. His effort and his heart have been there from the beginning, and he's certainly a very tough kid that will help us win games."
Bayless was one of five Warriors in double-figures against the Reivers. Payton had another double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, Taj Anderson had 12 points and Freeman added 11. IHCC was led, however, by sophomore Tyrese Nickelson, who came off the bench to pour in 21 points.
"Tyrese has been there many, many times. In Tyrese's second game here he played 34 minutes in front of a full house in a game against John A. Logan with about 10 NBA scouts here," Plona recalled. "In games where nothing is going right, Tyrese is a guy that I know will make something happen, and he sure did tonight."
The Warrior headman went on to explain that Nickelson is a steadying force on a team with a lot of guards that are green to tough situations and are new to their roles.
"Tyrese is a really good player, and as far as our guards go, he's played in way more big games, and that does matter now," Plona said. "Taj and Curt are figuring it out, and Levar has a far different role than he did a year ago at NJIT. Even Theo's (Bourgeois) role is significantly different than a year ago.
The win moves Indian Hills to 9-2 while Iowa Western fell below .500 to 5-6. The Reivers were led by Dewayne Vass with 16 points, Dhashon Dyson with 14 while Elijah Pickens and Elijah Bishop each added 10.
The grind continues on Saturday for the Warriors as they hit the road for the long trip to Norfolk, Nebraska to take on Northeast (3-9). IHCC dismantled the Hawks back on February 6 in Ottumwa, 115-63.
"We held Northeast's Michael Anderson in check here (4 points), and he might be leading the league in scoring. He's a very good player." Plona said. "So, we need to focus on him because I think that was the key to our success against them. When they've been really good, he's scored 25 or 30."
Despite the previous result and the Hawks' record, Plona was quick to add that there's little room for rest mentally or physically.
"We're playing games every two days, and with COVID concerns, we'll go over to Norfolk the day of the game. Kirkwood went over there and got beat pretty handily last Saturday. It just goes to show that the league has a lot of good coaches that have good plans, and the gap between teams will continue to close as it goes on."
Game time Saturday from the Cox Activities Center is 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on GoHillsTV via Facebook, the app or on GoHillsTV.com