Ottumwa -- Indian Hills, playing its first home game in nearly three weeks, used a strong end to the first half and a torrid second period to defeat Western Oklahoma State College, 93-55, on Friday night in the Bowling RV Classic.
After falling behind by five points, 21-16, about 12 minutes into the contest, IHCC went on a 17-4 spurt to open up a double-digit lead. The visitors got a bucket from Darvin Petties to take what would turn out to be their final lead at 23-21. JD Muila, who had scored just before Petties' field goal to allow IHCC to gain a brief 21-21 tie, put his team ahead by converting a three-point play. Following a Tyrese Nickelson field goal Muila had back-to-back baskets inside, giving him nine of the Warriors last 11 points. Theo Bourgeois drained a 3-pointer and, after WOSC got their first field goal in nearly five minutes, Nickelson made a layup and Chris Childs buried a three for a 13-point advantage.
The second half began with Maurice Calloo scoring for the Warriors and then the first of four second-half threes for Childs. Indian Hills steadily built the lead while shooting 70 percent over the final 20 minutes (21-of-30). Muila pumped in three hoops in the last half and ended up with a season-high 15 points. Childs' half-dozen triples gave him a team-high 18 points. Those two were joined in double figures by Samba Kane who scored 10.
While IHCC was torching the nets in the second half, the Pioneers, playing their third game in five nights, shot only 33 percent from the field.
The taller Warriors held a big edge on the glass, outrebounding WOSC 47-28. Muila's 12 rebounds gave him a double-double.
Dylan O'Hearn got off to a quick start for the Pioneers, scoring 12 of their first 21 points. He wound up with 16. Gary Mims added 15 and David Labardy 14.
The Warriors' lead went over 30 points for the first time on a 3-pointer by Ben Lyon and grew to as large as 41 points late in the contest.
Indian Hills Saturday night will take on Williston State (ND), its fifth opponent already this season that played in the national tournament last March. Williston State knocked off Marshalltown CC, 84-79, in Friday's first matchup.
INDIAN HILLS 93, WESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 55
INDIAN HILLS
Chris Payton 2 0-2 4, Maurice Calloo 3 2-3 8, Tyrese Nickelson 4 0-0 8, Loseni Kamara 2 0-0 5, Chris Childs 6 0-0 18, Malique Jacobs 0 0-0 0, Tyon Grant-Foster 3 0-0 8, Drake Jeffries 2 0-0 5, JD Muila 7 1-1 15, Dedoch Chan 1 0-0 2, Theo Bourgeois 1 4-4 7, Ben Lyon 1 0-0 3, Samba Kane 5 0-3 10 Team 37 7-14 93
WESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Michael McKay 1 1-3 3, Gary Mims 6 1-2 15, Dylan O'Hearn 4 7-8 16, Rasheen Brown 2 0-0 5, David Labardy 7 0-2 14, Darvin Petties 1 0-0 2, Kendarius Horton 0 0-0 0, Daniel Franz 0 0-0 0, Naser Eaves 0 0-0 0 21 9-15 55
Halftime score: Indian Hills 38, Western Oklahoma 27; Three-point field goals: IHCC 12 (Childs 6, Grant-Foster 2, Kamara 1, Jeffries 1, Bourgeois 1, Lyon 1)