Hutchinson, KS – The No. 7 seed Indian Hills Men's Basketball team dropped a heartbreaking matchup to No. 10 seed Northwest Florida State in the second round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Basketball Tournament. The Raiders ended the Warriors' season with a 65-64 victory at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Freshman Enoch Kalambay (Gatineau, Canada/Orangeville Prep) scored a game-high 19 points off the bench for the Warriors while Taj Anderson (Queens, NY/Quality Prep) added 15 on four three-point shots made. J'Vonne Hadley (St. Paul, MN/Northeastern) scored nine points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds.
The Warriors end their season with a 27-6 overall record. Indian Hills, ranked No. 2 in the preseason national rankings, won the NJCAA Region XI and NJCAA North Central District Championship while putting together a 13 game winning streak. The national tournament appearance was the 17th all-time for the Warriors and eighth in the last nine years.
Both sides managed to put a defensive clamp on one another in the early goings of Tuesday night's showdown at the national tournament. A jumper by Hadley with just over eight to play tied the game at 14. The Raiders eventually rallied and built a nine-point lead, 29-20 before seven straight points from Kalambay closed out the half and brought the Warriors to within seven, 33-27 at the intermission.
The Warriors carried over their momentum to start the second half behind five points from Kalambay to open the second stanza and three straight three-point shots from Anderson as part of a 16-2 run to take a 43-35 lead.
The second half proved to be a heavyweight battle between two historic programs as the Raiders clawed back to take a 50-49 lead. A layup from Kalambay eventually gave Indian Hills the lead back at 60-59, but a layup from the Raiders with 11 seconds to play put the No. 10 seed on top for good. Anderson's desperation three at the buzzer fell short to close out the Warriors' season.
As a team, the Warriors shot 45.5 percent from the floor and assisted on 17 of the team's 25 field goals on the night. Tuesday night's matchup saw a total of seven ties and 13 lead changes.
HEARTBREAK - No. 7-seed @ihccbasketball ends its season at 27-6 after seeing a @TajAnderson2 trey miss the mark and No. 10-seed @NWFRaiders_MBB escaped with a 65-64 win in the second round of the NJCAA Men's D-I @HutchTourney. Enoch Kalambay led the Warriors with 19 points. pic.twitter.com/o6jLoYDy59
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) March 16, 2022
