Ottumwa, IA – A late-game rally powered No. 6 Indian Hills Men's Basketball to a thrilling 87-84 nonconference victory over visiting No. 10 Triton College (IL) at the Hellyer Center on Saturday night. The Warriors move to 25-5 overall on the year and extend their winning streak to 11 games.
Saturday night's contest pitted two potential national tournament teams as both squads entered the game on a combined 21-game winning streak. The Trojans were handed their last defeat on Jan. 12 at the hands of Indian Hills, a 77-74 decision.
Triton built a seven-point halftime advantage and extended the lead to as many as 13 early on in the second half as the Warriors were forced to regroup. With 18:18 to play, J'Vonne Hadley (St. Paul, MN/Northeastern) buried a three-point shot to ignite a 12-1 Warrior run and pulled Indian Hills within two, 52-50.
The Warriors stayed within striking distance, but the Trojans continued to maintain its lead until another three from Hadley at the 6:44 mark gave Indian Hills its first lead of the second half, 74-72. With the Warrior full court press activated, Indian Hills forced a number of Triton turnovers down the stretch as a steal and fast break dunk from Yacine Toumi (Meudon, France/Arkansas Little Rock) with under 30 seconds to play sealed the win for the Warriors.
Hadley finished the night with a game-high 21 points on 8-14 shooting while connecting on three three-point shots. Toumi added 11 points, including nine in the second half, off the bench for the Warriors. Sophomore Braxton Bayless (Ankeny, IA/Ankeny) contributed 13 of his 15 points in the second half while adding a team-high five assists. Taj Anderson (Queens, NY/Quality Education) drained four three-point shots in the first half to finish the night with 12 points.
In the second matchup decided by three points between the two high-caliber programs, both sides provided near identical box scores as Triton shot 50.9 percent on the night compared to Indian Hills' 50.0 clip. The primary difference centered around turnovers as the Warriors forced 22 Triton miscues. Both Bayless and David Zeigler (Cleveland, OH/Bowling Green) collected three steals in the win.
The win gives the Warriors its third victory over top-10 nationally ranked squads and five over top-25 programs. Head coach Hank Plona improves to 49-3 all-time in the month of February at Indian Hills and has now recorded double-digit winning streaks in each of his seven seasons at the helm of the Warriors.
Indian Hills improves to 5-0 all-time against Triton.
Saturday night's contest also served as the final home game for 10 sophomores. Anderson, Adetokunbo Bakare, Bayless, Ahren Freeman, Hadley, Andre Harris, Isaiah Marin, Mouhamadou Mbow, Toumi, and Zeigler were recognized prior to the start of Saturday night's contest.
The Warriors now enter postseason play as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Region XI Tournament. Indian Hills will host the winner of No. 2 Southeastern Community College and No. 3 Marshalltown Community College in the region championship game at 7:00 PM on Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Hellyer Center. Southeastern and Marshalltown will square off on Feb. 23 in West Burlington, IA for a berth in the championship.
