Ottumwa -- Indian Hills pulled away down the stretch, outscoring Southeastern CC 11-2 over the game's final 2:16, to take over first place in the conference standings with a 77-68 win on Wednesday night at the Hellyer Center.
The Blackhawks' Marquis Collins tied the score at 66-all with two free throws, but his field goal in the final minute accounted for the only points SCC managed after that. Meanwhile, the Warriors got a go-ahead bucket from Torrey Patton, a mid-range basket by Iziah James, and then 7-of-8 free throws over the last 43 seconds to claim their third league win without a loss and deal SCC their first ICCAC defeat in four games.
James made four straight at the line after his shot made it a two-possession game at 70-66. Devontae Lane knocked down three-of-four foul shots to help the Warriors secure their 12th consecutive victory in the series with Southeastern and their ninth in a row at Hellyer.
The first half featured runs by both teams: Indian Hills opened with the first 10 points; Southeastern ran off seven points before a 3-pointer by IHCC's Tomas Woldetensae; IHCC used a 15-4 spurt to take their biggest lead of the game at 27-13; and SCC tallied 10 in a row to get back to within four points.
Torrey Patton stopped that Blackhawk run with a field goal. Patton had 10 of his team's first 20 points and scored 13 of his 15 points in the opening half. After trailing by double-digits, SCC came back to within 34-33. IHCC then ended the half with three free throws -- two by Woldetensae, who led their scoring with 17, and one by Patton.
Indian Hills took a 10-point lead about three minutes into the second half when Lane knocked down a three, but the Blackhawks again rallied, this time tying the score at 51-51 on back-to-back triples by Tyler Maye. There were five ties after that and SCC had three brief leads of either one or two points.
Tyon Grant-Foster made some big plays for Indian Hills before he fouled out with just over two minutes remaining. The freshman's two foul shots tied the score at 58, his 3-pointer at the three-minute mark gave IHCC a 66-64 lead, and he had two big blocks on the defensive end.
Southeastern made a season-best nine threes and battled Indian Hills to a 35-35 tie on the glass. Patton was the Warriors' leading rebounder with nine. Collins led the SCC scoring with 16.
IHCC will put its conference winning streaks -- now at 21 games overall and 17 in the regular season -- on the line Saturday night in a game at Iowa Western.
INDIAN HILLS 77, SOUTHEASTERN 68
INDIAN HILLS (18-4)
Devontae Lane 1 6-8 9, Lance Singh 0 0-0 0, Iziah James 2 6-6 10, Nick Wagner 1 0-0 3, Tyon Grant-Foster 2 4-5 9, Tomas Woldetensae 4 5-5 17, Tajim Smith 0 0-1 0, JD Muila 2 0-0 4, Anthony Bratton 0 0-0 0, Tyler Chisom 5 0-1 10, Torrey Patton 5 3-5 15 Team 22 24-31 77
SOUTHEASTERN
AJ Cox 5 0-0 13, Tyler Maye 4 0-0 10, Jaquan Lightfoot 2 4-8 8, Trenton Massner 0 0-0 0, Marquis Collins 6 2-2 16, Steven Cager 2 0-0 6, Kelvon Fuller 1 4-4 6, DeAndre Barton 4 1-1 9, Alier Riak 0 0-0 0, Diew Moses 0 0-0 0 Team 24 11-16 68
Halftime score: Indian Hills 37, Southeastern 33; Three-point field goals: IHCC 9 (Woldetensae 4, Patton 2, Lane 1, Wagner 1, Grant-Foster 1), SCC 9 (Cox 3, Maye 2, Collins 2, Cager 2)