Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills Warriors found themselves in a rather familiar position at halftime of Saturday's Region 11 postseason tournament championship game. For the fourth time in the last six games IHCC trailed at intermission, this time 34-29 to visiting Iowa Western The Warriors, after falling behind by nine points early in the second half, ratcheted up the defensive pressure, got some transition baskets, hit their only three 3-pointers of the evening and made almost all of their free throws down the stretch in coming back to knock off Iowa Western, 83-69, and secure Indian Hills' fourth consecutive postseason crown, to go along with nine straight regular season Region 11 titles.

IHCC coach Hank Plona said despite the latest halftime deficit and the magnitude of the win-or-go-home game there was no panic in the eyes of his squad in the halftime locker room. "It seems like we find ourselves in challenging games time after time," Plona explained, "but we figure out a way to stick together, overcome obstacles and get a win. This was a perfect example of that."

Iowa Western scored the first four points of the final half to grab their largest lead of the game at 38-29. The Warriors, who were outshot from behind the arc 6-0 in the opening period, got their initial three, from Kenny Wormley, as part of their comeback. The shot by Wormley came just a few feet from where he buried a three with three seconds to play to produce an IHCC win the last time Iowa Western visited the Hellyer Center on Feb. 4.

It was Wormley, on a fast break layup, who gave IHCC its first lead of the half, 49-48, with 11 minutes to play. Ivan Aurrecoechea then scored under the bucket to make it a three-point Indian Hills advantage. The freshman big man had another performance which has become routine for the Warriors over the last 10 games with a team-high 20 points and 13 rebounds, his 8th double-double in that span. Aurrecoechea is averaging 15.3 points and 16.3 rebounds since a Feb. 1 win at Northeast (Neb.). "Ivan did a great job defensively and had some huge putbacks in the second half," Plona said. "He has continued to be a major factor in our success," the coach said of the contributions of Aurrecoechea during what is now a 12-game winning streak.

With Iowa Western trailing by only two, 57-55, Aurrecoechea had a field goal and Jamel Allen, who scored all of 12 points in the final half, hit a left-wing three for a seven-point IHCC advantage with 5 1/2 minutes to play. Aurrecoechea followed with back-to-back hoops and Allen was fouled with 4:02 on the clock. He hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to complete an 11-0 Indian Hills run and begin a streak of 14 straight made foul shots. "Jamel was a huge spark in the second half," according to Plona, who described the freshman forward as "instant offense" and added that he made some great defensive plays as well.

Pat Dembley tried to keep the Reivers' hopes alive with three late 3s. He led their scoring with 27 points. But all Iowa Western, after falling behind by double digits, could do was hope the Warriors had some misses at the line and Indian Hills didn't oblige.

Indian Hills held IWCC scoring leader DeQuon Lake to one field goal and four points. "Our kids really locked down and guarded, especially in the second half," Plona said. "We took Lake out of the game, and played great team defense to get stops and rebounds which led to our transition offense."

Five Warriors scored in double figures. In addition to Aurrecoechea and Allen, Richardson Maitre tallied 13 points, Wormley 11 and McNeal 10, including six consecutive free throws in the last two minutes.

An unsung hero for IHCC was forward Jermaine Ukaegbu who was very active on both ends of the floor. He chipped in five points and snared 11 rebounds. "Jermaine set the tone," the IHCC coach said. "He had seven rebounds in the first five minutes and made some incredible hustle plays."

The victory closed out another tremendous home season for Indian Hills with 19 wins in 20 home contests in 2016-17.

The Warriors haven't lost since a January game at Iowa Western and will put their win streak on the line on Wednesday night in the District 11 title game against North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D. with a trip to the NJCAA National Tournament on the line. The two teams met in the district game two years ago in Wahpeton and IHCC won on Gary Williams Jr.'s 3-pointer at the buzzer. NDSCS got some revenge last year with a 104-103 overtime victory at the Hellyer Center.

INDIAN HILLS 83, IOWA WESTERN 69

INDIAN HILLS

Chris McNeal 2 6-6 10, Kenny Wormley 3 4-7 11, Antonio Williams 1 0-0 2, Richardson Maitre 5 3-3 13, Ivan Aurrecoechea 9 2-4 20, Jamel Allen 2 6-6 12, Brady Ernst 3 0-0 6, Tre Hansbrough 0 1-2 1, Jermaine Ukaegbu 2 1-4 5, Karl Harris 0 3-4 3 Team 27 26-35 83

IOWA WESTERN

DeQuon Lake 1 2-2 4, Jeremiah Jefferson 0 2-2 2, Alex Peacock 3 2-2 9, Marquel Beasley 2 4-5 8, Pat Dembley 9 3-3 27, Donovan Walker 7 0-0 16, Oumar Barry 0 0-0 0, Andre Harris 1 0-0 3 Team 23 13-14 69

Halftime score: Iowa Western 34, Indian Hills 29; Three-point field goals: IHCC 3 (Allen 2, Wormley 1), IWCC 10 (Dembley 6, Walker 2, Peacock 1, Harris 1)