Mesa, Arizona -- Indian Hills will play South Plains in the championship game of the 2017 Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout after the two teams posted semifinal-round victories Friday night. Indian Hills ran away from the host Mesa Thunderbirds in the second half, winning 80-66 to gain their spot in the title game opposite South Plains, the defending champs of this event, who knocked off Southern Idaho in the other semi.
For the second straight night, the Warriors had a solid defensive effort, holding Mesa to 34 percent shooting and outrebounding them, 43-28. Mesa made only 9 of its 34 3-point tries. In its opening-round victory against Central Florida, IHCC permitted its opponent to shoot only 30 percent.
The T-birds got off to a fast start, grabbing an early 10-2 lead when Adonis Arms made all three foul shots following a foul on a 3-point attempt. The Warriors came back to tie the score at 12-12 on a Jamel Allen basket and eventually opened up a 31-18 lead on a Rob Montgomery goal.
Shane Gatling, who hit seven 3s on his way to 34 points the night before, drilled his only 3-pointer of this game to open the second-half scoring for the Warriors. Mesa got to within a point twice, the second time at 46-45, before Indian Hills ran off eight in a row. Allen and Devontae Lane punctuated that burst with back-to-back steals and buckets, forcing Mesa to call a timeout with 11:52 remaining.
IHCC went ahead by double-digits on a Lane three with nine minutes to play and pushed the lead to 17 late in the game. Lane had all 11 of his points in the final half.
Antonio "Booman" Williams led Indian Hills with a double-double, 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ivan Aurrecoechea scored 11 and Allen and Tomas Woldetensae had 10, giving the Warriors five double-figure scorers.
Arms and Bryce Cheney led Mesa with 15 apiece.
It was the second win over Mesa this season for the Warriors and their 15th without a loss.
INDIAN HILLS 80, MESA 66
INDIAN HILLS
Ivan Aurrecoechea 5 1-2 11, Jamel Allen 4 2-3 10, Antonio Williams 5 4-6 14, Tomas Woldetensae 4 0-0 10, Shane Gatling 3 1-2 8, Connor Murrell 0 2-2 2, Devontae Lane 3 4-6 11, Corey Manigault 1 1-2 3, Rob Montgomery 2 0-0 4, James Jean-Marie 2 3-4 7 Team 29 18-27 80
MESA
Malique Washington 1 0-0 3, Brent Kimbrel 3 0-0 8, Adonis Arms 4 5-5 15, Antwan Ross-Jones 3 0-0 7, Ramon Franklin 0 0-0 0, Bryce Cheney 4 6-6 15, Mikel Byers 3 0-0 7, Sindou Diallo 2 2-2 7, Errol Newman 1 2-2 4, Jeff Perez 0 0-0 0, Dominic Sesma 0 0-0 0 Team 21 15-15 66
Halftime score: Indian Hills 37, Mesa 30; Three-point field goals: IHCC 4 (Woldetensae 2, Gatling 1, Lane 1), MCC 9 (Kimbrel 2, Arms 2, Washington 1, Ross-Jones 1, Cheney 1, Diallo 1, Byers 1)