Council Bluffs, Iowa -- In a game that wouldn't have made it into the first overtime if not for a clutch play by Indian Hills sophomore Torrey Patton, the Warriors finally prevailed after two overtime sessions and 50 minutes of hard-fought basketball Saturday night at Kanesville Arena, hanging onto sole possession of first place in the conference with a 116-112 triumph over Iowa Western.
Patton gathered in an errant shot and made a layup with three-tenths of a second remaining in regulation to tie the game at 93-all. Then, Tyler Chisom dropped in one free throw with 4.3 seconds on the clock to allow IHCC to tie the game at 104-104 at the end of the first five-minute OT period.
Another Chisom foul shot started the scoring in the second OT and Indian Hills built a seven-point advantage and closed out their fourth league win without a loss and their 19th win overall. Chisom scored five of his 21 points in overtime number-two. Tomas Woldetensae, who wound up with a career-high 29 points, drilled a big 3-pointer to help IHCC to a 116-109 lead.
Woldetensae was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 15.6 seconds to play in regulation and knocked down all three free throws to bring the Warriors to within 92-91. After the Reivers' Travon Broadway hit one-of-two shots from the line with 14 seconds on the clock, Woldetensae's long-range shot was off-line, but Patton was perfectly positioned to just beat the buzzer and get the game into OT.
Woldetensae hit a three late in the second half to cut a Reiver lead from six to three and his three free throws came on the next possession after an IWCC free throw.
There were 20 ties and 23 lead changes in the battle in which Iowa Western could have tied for first place in the ICCAC with a win.
The Warriors took a 44-40 halftime lead and then shot 58 percent over the final 30 minutes. But the Reivers came back from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a number of leads over the final 11 minutes, their largest lead was six with just over a minute left in the second half.
A key part of Iowa Western's comeback was the play of sophomore Parker Hazen, who scored 14 second-half points and made two threes, doubling his season total of 3-pointers.
Christian Bentley led the Reivers with 27 and hit a huge three with 10.4 seconds left in the first overtime to give IWCC the lead at 104-103. Chisom was then fouled on a drive to the bucket and made his first free throw to even the score at 104. Chisom missed his second try, but the ball was knocked out of bounds and awarded to Indian Hills. The Warriors, though, threw away the inbounds pass and the game went to a second OT.
In addition to Woldetensae's 29 points and 21 by Chisom, Patton supplied 25 points and 11 rebounds, Tyon Grant-Foster scored 13, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots, and JD Muila led everyone with 15 rebounds and chipped in 11 points.
The win was IHCC's sixth straight against Iowa Western and their 18th consecutive regular-season conference victory.
The Warriors go back on the road on Wednesday night to take on Northest (Neb.) in Norfolk, Neb.
INDIAN HILLS 116, IOWA WESTERN 112 (2 OT)
INDIAN HILLS (19-4, 4-0)
Devontae Lane 2 4-9 8, Iziah James 4 0-1 9, Nick Wagner 0 0-0 0, Tyon Grant-Foster 3 6-7 13, Tomas Woldetensae 10 6-6 29, JD Muila 5 1-2 11, Anthony Bratton 0 0-0 0, Tyler Chisom 8 5-10 21, Torrey Patton 11 2-4 25 Team 43 24-39 116
IOWA WESTERN (17-5, 2-2)
Travon Broadway 5 9-12 22, Emmanuel Ugboh 6 5-8 17, Caleb Huffman 4 1-2 9, Christian Bentley 9 4-4 27, Boubacar Diakite 0 0-0 0, Parker Hazen 9 0-0 20, Seneca Louis 3 2-4 8, Amadou Sylla 1 0-0 2, Marques Watson 0 2-2 2, Willard Anderson 2 0-0 5, Esahia Nyiwe 0 0-0 0 Team 39 23-32 112
Halftime score: Indian Hills 44, Iowa Western 40; At end of regulation: IHCC 93, IWCC 93; At end of 1st overtime: IHCC 104, IWCC 104; Three-point field goals: IHCC 6 (Woldetensae 3, James 1, Grant-Foster 1, Patton 1); IWCC 11 (Bentley 5, Broadway 3, Hazen 2, Anderson 1)