Ottumwa -- Indian Hills built a big first-half lead and never let up in dominating North Central Missouri, 107-62, at the Hellyer Center on Tuesday night, the 26th consecutive win for the No. 2-rated Warriors.
The score was 26-10 with just over eight minutes elapsed and 64-28 by halftime, the Warriors' highest-scoring half of the year. The biggest margin was 49 points midway through the second period.
Indian Hills nailed 15-of-30 3-point tries and has made 29-of-60 over the past two games. Shane Gatling has been the clear leader in 3-pointers -- his four Tuesday gives him 84 for the year -- but he got plenty of help with five of his teammates also making a three. That included four more from Jamel Allen, who now has nine in the past two contests.
Only eight players saw action for IHCC and six scored in double figures. James Jean-Marie had a season-best 16 points and added 10 rebounds and three blocks. Rob Montgomery was one of the two who didn't score at least 10, but he grabbed 10 boards and also blocked three shots.
Antonio "Booman" Williams came off the bench in the first half to score eight quick points, on his way to a team-high 24. Williams notched 16 of his points in the opening 20 minutes and, by halftime, he had a 3-point basket and three old-fashioned 3-point plays.
IHCC held the Pirates to 33 percent shooting, 30 percent through the first half.
North Central Missouri (12-10) got 19 points from Jordan Reece and 14 from Jalen Gant.
Three of the final four regular-season games for Indian Hills are in the conference, starting with a Saturday visit to Marshalltown to take on the Tigers. Indian Hills has a one-and-a-half game lead over Iowa Western in the league standings.
INDIAN HILLS 107, NORTH CENTRAL MISSOURI 62
INDIAN HILLS
Jamel Allen 6 1-4 17, Antonio Williams 9 5-6 24, Tomas Woldetensae 4 0-0 11, Shane Gatling 5 4-4 18, Devontae Lane 2 0-0 5, Rob Montgomery 2 2-4 6, James Jean-Marie 8 0-1 16, Javier Valeiras 4 0-2 10 Team 40 12-21 107
NORTH CENTRAL MISSOURI
Jalen Gant 5 4-9 14, Jordan Reece 8 3-3 19, Jake Salisbury 2 0-0 4, Cody Glenn 1 0-0 2, Mikhlyn Johnson 1 1-2 3, Emil Spriggs 2 0-0 6, Jordan Leonard 1 0-0 2, Chance Edwards 1 0-0 3, Josh Quintrell 1 2-2 4, Yacento Scott Jr. 1 2-2 5 Team 23 12-18 62
Halftime score: Indian Hills 64, North Central Missouri 28; Three-point field goals: IHCC 15 (Allen 4, Gatling 4, Woldetensae 3, Valeiras 2, Williams 1, Lane 1), NCM 4 (Spriggs 2, Edwards 1, Scott 1)