FORT DODGE, IA – Coach Hank Plona isn't big on excuses. However, sometimes the factors that can be construed as such are really bigger than he'd like to admit.
In other words, it's not an excuse if it's really the reason.
Facing its second long road trip of the week and coming of an exhausting and emotional win at its closest ICCAC competitor Wednesday night, all the signs pointed towards a bit of a letdown as Plona's Warriors took on ninth place Iowa Central Saturday at Dr. John E. Hodges Fieldhouse. A classic sandwich game, if you will.
The result was for the second time this season, the favored Warriors trailed at halftime against Iowa Central and needed a big second half effort to top the Tritons. Fortunately for No. 11-rated Indian Hills, its play after intermission resulted in an 85-68 victory, the team's sixteenth in eighteen outings thus far in 2021.
"I'm very happy that we were able to pull out a difficult road win today," Plona admitted. "I'd like to think that the day-to-day things don't matter, but this was our second long road trip of the week, and we definitely looked like it early."
The host Tritons (6-11) came out of the lockers ready to play spoiler as Iowa Central burst out to a 14-1 lead. IHCC didn't get its first field goal until a Chris Payton lay in with 15:28 on the clock. The frustrations didn't end there; however, as the Warriors would eventually trail by as many as 15 when Iowa Central took a 28-13 lead with 8:07 before half.
Indian Hills would go on a 19-7 run from that point until the halftime break which cut the lead to 35-32, but the Warriors' work was far from over.
"I was extremely proud of how we kicked it into high gear in the second half," Plona said. "We played very well on both ends."
It took just over a minute of the second stanza for the Warriors to capture their first lead of the contest as IHCC's Tyrese Nickelson threw in a 3-pointer from the wing and Tyem Freeman slashed to the bucket for a pair at the 18:56 mark to give the visitors a 37-35 advantage. Freeman and Nickelson did most of the offensive damage to spark the second-half turnaround as they would end up scoring 27 and 26 points, respectively. Nickelson was especially good from beyond the arc, nailing 5-of-8 from distance on the afternoon.
"Tyrese Nickelson had an aggressiveness on both ends of the floor tonight that we need from him," Plona explained. "He's a special player that is a Warrior through and through, and his passion to do everything needed to win for his teammates and Indian Hills is a constant. We sure needed him today."
Iowa Central would not back down as the game was still knotted up at 48-48 with 14:01 to play, despite much better play out of the nationally-ranked Warriors.
IHCC would go on the first of two second-half double-digit scoring runs at that point as a 10-0 spurt would give the Warriors their first sizable margin of the afternoon with a 58-48 lead with ten and half minutes to play.
With just 5:41 remaining, the Tritons remained within striking distance at 68-60, but IHCC would deliver the dagger over the next two and a half minutes in the form of a 13-0 run, sparked by eight straight points from Freeman to take command, 81-60 with just three minutes to play.
A couple more deuces from Nickelson would be all the Warriors would need to complete the 85-68 victory, and IHCC would leave Fort Dodge still sitting atop the ICCAC Standings with just three games left on its regular season ledger.
"This is a very special group that plays their heart out every night," Plona stated. "Today was a good example of how hard it is going to be to continue winning late in the season. Our guys continue to dig deep and show their toughness in winning games in different ways."
In addition to Freeman and Nickelson's totals, The Warriors picked up 14 points from Curtis Jones and 11 from Payton. Both Freeman and Payton would record double-doubles as the duo helped IHCC win the battle of the glass by a 47-32 margin, as each of them pulled down 13 boards. Jones just missed a double-double as the Minneapolis product snared nine rebounds.
Indian Hills will host Southwestern (10-8) on Wednesday night at the Hellyer Center. IHCC fell to the Spartans in the season-opener in Creston, 60-56. The Warriors will be looking to prove that they are a much different unit at this point of the season than the one that was defeated back on January 20. IHCC can also clinch a share of the ICCAC regular season championship with a victory. Indian Hills has already secured the No. 1-seed for the Region XI Division I postseason tournament.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday night.