BOONE, IA – Sometimes big games don't live up to the hype.
This one did.
The ICCAC's top two men's basketball teams got together for the second meeting of the season Wednesday night at The Den in Boone, and it wasn't decided until a Christian Haffner fade-away 3-point attempt rimmed away at the buzzer, sending No. 11-rated Indian Hills off the floor in celebration with a 72-70 victory over NJCAA Division II top-ranked DMACC.
Indian Hills' ability to keep ahold of the top spot in the conference looked precarious at best at halftime as the host Bears held a nine-point lead after using a 13-4 run late in the first half to break open the contest that had been tied at 27 with five minutes remaining until intermission.
Fortunately for the Warriors, games are forty minutes long, not just twenty.
"Sometimes our guys think when it's tied, it's okay to step off the gas thinking they have it made," said IHCC Head Coach Hank Plona. "I told them at half that we were going to come back and get even, and when we did, they had better be ready to push through it."
Plona's prediction proved to be true as the Warriors used a six-minute stretch midway through the second stanza to go on a 14-2 run to erase a 50-44 deficit to end up with a 58-52 lead. A Tyem Freeman trey punctuated the Warrior burst.
"The toughness of our group really showed tonight," Plona added. "Whenever our back is against the wall, we tend to battle at a level we didn't know we had. We definitely needed everything we had to come back in this game."
Not long after Freeman's three, the IHCC leading scorer picked up his fourth foul which kept the Springfield, Missouri native from creating even more problems for DMACC. The Bears had no answer for Freeman as he led all scorers with 22 points in just 17 minutes of playing time.
With Plona opting to sit Freeman to keep him from his fifth personal, Chris Payton filled the void by repeatedly attacking the basket down the stretch and getting to the line to keep DMACC from regaining the lead.
"Tyem and Chris showed why they are all-Americans," Plona said. "Both made aggressive confident plays. We have to figure out how to keep Tyem out of foul trouble, because he was phenomenal. I thought it was Chris' best game of the season. He wanted to be the reason why we won or lost tonight, and he made sure we got the job done."
Payton was busy on both ends of the floor as he was the only other Warrior in double figures with 19 points and he added 13 rebounds to record a double-double.
DMACC wouldn't go away quietly, however, as the Bears got a Haffner triple from the top of the key with 32 ticks left on the clock to pull to within a point at 70-69. The teams traded questionable foul calls as Tyrese Nickelson was whistled for a charge on the Warriors' next possession only for the Bears to return the favor on their end with a moving screen violation.
Payton would then cash in on a 1-and-1 opportunity with 9.3 seconds left to lift the Warriors to a 72-69 lead, and Plona instructed his team to foul rather than risk a game-tying 3-point attempt. The strategy looked like it may work as DMACC's Willie Guy was fouled and made the first from the charity stripe to get the Bears to within two. Guy missed the second and in Payton and Freeman's haste to get the rebound, the ball was knocked from each other's grasp allowing Haffner to get his final look from the corner which missed the mark.
"DMACC is an outstanding team," Plona said. "They score from every position, and are a very tough matchup for us. It took forty minutes of sticking together and helping one another to defend and rebound."
Ryan Schmitt led the Bears with 21 points in the post and Plona fully expected it.
"DMACC killed us with threes in the first matchup (14-of-27 from distance), so it was our plan to let them get the ball to Schmitt," Plona explained. "He's a great player, and we figured he'd get 20 points. The key was to not let him get 30."
The Warriors employed a man-to-man defensive strategy that included immediate switching on every ball screen. The result usually ended up with one of Plona's guards trying to defend the 6-foot-11 Schmitt, which proved too enticing for DMACC to pass up on most occasions, thus keeping the Bears from launching as many 3-point attempts as the prior meeting in Ottumwa.
"Our guards did a good job of fighting," Plona added. "Curtis Jones, Tyrese Nickelson and Trey Harris deserve a lot of credit."
With Freeman in foul trouble for most of the night, Harris was given the opportunity to play extended minutes, and the sophomore from Bloomington, Illinois did not disappoint, even drilling a triple with the Warriors in need of help, trailing by nine at the 17-minute mark of the second half.
"I can't say enough about Trey Harris and his contributions to our team," Plona said. "He has a willingness and ability to step into any situation, play and guard any position, and get the job done. Trey has been a sponge all year and has shown as much toughness, resiliency, determination and courage as any player I have ever coached. We do not win this game without Trey. For him to step up and knock down a big three like he did? I cannot even put into words how gritty and impressive that is."
The win moved Indian Hills to 15-2 overall and keeps the Warriors a game and a half ahead of DMACC (13-3) in the ICCAC standings heading down the stretch. Plona has mentioned many times that the primary goal is to receive the region's No. 1-seed among the ICCAC Division I schools (Northwest, Southeastern, Marshalltown and IHCC), but winning the league outright is no afterthought.
"Make no mistake, we want to win the conference," Plona added. "Getting the top seed certainly helps us to reach our goal of making the national tournament, but in no way do we want to play second fiddle to any junior college in our league. Winning the ICCAC is important to our guys."
The Warriors can take another step towards that accomplishment on Saturday as IHCC heads to Fort Dodge to take on Iowa Central (6-10). Game time from Dr. John E. Hodges Fieldhouse is 3 p.m. IHCC defeated the Tritons, 119-87 at the Hellyer Center back on February 13 in a game that marked the highest offensive output of the season.