Ottumwa -- Returning home after claiming the title in last week's Fiesta Bowl Shootout -- and with the championship trophy sitting on a table at one end of the Hellyer Center for fans to see -- Indian Hills withstood a second-half challenge from Moberly Area CC and knocked off the No. 8-rated Greyhounds, 96-82, on Friday night. Ivan Aurrecoechea and Antonio "Booman" Williams both posted double-doubles as the Warriors finished a season sweep of Moberly, ranked 8th nationally both times IHCC beat them. The Greyhounds only two losses have come at the hands of Indian Hills, now 17-0 for the season.
Moberly fell behind by 13 points just before halftime, but made things uncomfortable for the Warriors and their fans in the final half. Dallas Morgan, who drilled seven 3s, six after intermission, made consecutive 3-pointers with around 14:00 remaining to allow Moberly to take a 53-51 lead. Tomas Woldetensae answered with a three to permit IHCC to regain the lead, but the game was tied three times after that, the final time at 64-all.
James Jean-Marie, who came off the bench to provide eight points and 10 rebounds, had a big putback bucket to break the tie and make the score 66-64 and Indian Hills never trailed again.
A Morgan three brought Moberly to within 73-71, then Indian Hills finally put the Greyhounds away by scoring 10 of the next 11 points. Jamel Allen capped that run with a 3-pointer, moments after Aurrecoechea's three-point play. The IHCC post player had 22 points and 16 rebounds. In four career games against MACC, Aurrecoechea has had double-doubles in three of them and had a 14-point game in the other one.
Williams tallied 11 points and was the third IHCC player in double-digits in rebounds with 10.
Morgan, on the strength of his seven 3s, led MACC with 21 points. Billy Thomas also did all of his scoring from behind the arc, getting 15 on five treys. Sean Miller-Moore provided 12 points and 13 boards.
Indian Hills started fast, taking an early 13-3 lead with Woldetensae knocking down three early shots, including a pair of threes. Moberly was down 40-27, but ended the half with a 3-pointer from Morgan and then began the final half with seven straight points. The score was tight after that until the 10-1 run let Indian Hills put the game on ice.
IHCC won the rebound battle, 44-28, and enjoyed a huge edge at the foul line, making 30-of-39 to Moberly's 7-of-12.
It's the third straight year Indian Hills has swept the regular season series from the Greyhounds. Moberly did defeat the Warriors in the national tournament two years ago, however. IHCC has taken six of the last seven matchups with MACC and 11 of the last 14 overall.
It will be back-to-back home games to start 2018 for the Warriors who welcome Malcolm X to the Hellyer Center on Saturday night.
INDIAN HILLS 96, MOBERLY 82
INDIAN HILLS
Ivan Aurrecoechea 7 8-10 22, Jamel Allen 5 1-2 13, Antonio Williams 4 3-7 11, Tomas Woldetensae 5 2-2 15, Shane Gatling 2 11-12 16, Devontae Lane 2 5-6 9, Corey Manigault 1 0-0 2, Rob Montgomery 0 0-0 0, James Jean-Marie 4 0-0 8, Javier Valeiras 0 0-0 0 Team 30 30-39 96
MOBERLY
Randy Miller 4 3-4 11, Sean Miller-Moore 5 2-4 12, Dallas Morgan 7 0-0 21, Billy Thomas 5 0-0 15, Tra Edwards 6 0-2 13, Tyrone Alston 0 0-0 0, Will Rucker 2 0-0 4, Tyree White 2 2-2 6 Team 31 7-12 82
Halftime score: Indian Hills 40, Moberly 32; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Woldetensae 3, Allen 2, Gatling 1), MACC 13 (Morgan 7, Thomas 5, Edwards 1