Ottumwa -- For the third game in a row, on Friday night, Indian Hills squared off against an undefeated Region 16 foe, and for the third consecutive outing the Warriors handed their Missouri opponent its first loss of the year.  This time, it was Missouri State-West Plains that fell to the 9-0 Warriors, Indian Hills blitzing the visiting Grizzlies in the second half on the way to a 93-67 rout at the Hellyer Center in the Cambridge Investment Research Classic.

Last weekend, it was State Fair and Moberly who entered play against IHCC with perfect records before absorbing their initial defeat.  Against MS-WP, Indian Hills opened up a 10-point halftime advantage, boosted the margin to 20 eight minutes into the second half, and never led by fewer than 20 points after that.

Indian Hills got a double-double from sophomore Ivan Aurrecoechea, who supplied 13 rebounds to go along with a team-high 14 points.  Antonio "Booman" Williams and Connor Murrell added 13 points each with Murrell drilling three second-half 3-pointers.  Ricky Torres led the Grizzlies with 18 points.

There were six ties and 10 lead changes in the first half.  The Warriors' Jamel Allen snapped a 29-29 deadlock with a 3-pointer and Indian Hills never trailed again.  Shane Gatling had nine points by halftime and he got them in threes: a three-point bucket, a three-point play and, then, three free throws after he was fouled on a shot from behind the arc.  Allen scored nine first-half points and he and Gatling both finished with 11, giving IHCC five players with 11 or more points.

The IHCC lead was 20 at 65-45 with 12:00 remaining and grew to as many as 28 points in the final minute.

The Grizzlies entered the game averaging 100.5 points through their first 11 contests and were held to a season-low point total.  Indian Hills held the visitors to 38 percent field-goal shooting and outrebounded them, 44-32.

The two teams will meet again on Jan. 10 in West Plains.

Next up for the Warriors is a matchup with Southwestern CC, the defending Division II national champs and a team that knocked off Indian Hills last year, 102-91, on their way to a 36-1 season record.  The Spartans are off to a 9-1 start after drubbing the William Penn JV, 118-66, in Friday's first game.  Tip time is 7:00 Saturday night.

INDIAN HILLS 93, MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS 67

INDIAN HILLS

Ivan Aurrecoechea 6 2-4 14, Jamel Allen 4 2-2 11, Antonio Williams 5 3-4 13, Tomas Woldetensae 3 0-0 7, Shane Gatling 2 6-6 11, Connor Murrell 5 0-0 13, Devontae Lane 1 1-2 3, Corey Manigault 0 2-2 2, Rob Montgomery 4 1-4 9, James Jean-Marie 2 2-2 6, Javier Valeiras 0 4-4 4  Team 32 23-30 93

MISSOURI STATE-WEST PLAINS

Ricky Torres 8 0-0 18, Yannis Mendy 1 0-0 2, Radshad Davis 4 4-6 13, Dontell Brown 2 3-6 7, Niedie Thomas 2 4-4 8, Eric Lovett 2 0-0 6, Burone Edwards 3 4-4 10, Johde Campbell 1 0-0 3, Terrell Whitaker 0 0-1 0, Leo Kontopoulos 0 0-0 0  Team 23 15-21 67

Halftime score: Indian Hills 48, Missouri State-West Plains 38; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Murrell 3, Allen 1, Woldetensae 1, Gatling 1), MS-WP 6 (Torres 2, Lovett 2, Davis 1, Campbell 1)