WEST BURLINGTON – Indian Hills Coach Hank Plona knows in a season like no other that one of his challenges is to get his team to look inward to find motivation while playing in nearly empty gymnasiums.
That was not a problem Wednesday night in West Burlington.
In a hotly contested early season contest, Plona's No. 12-rated Warriors found that boost that perhaps only comes when facing a key rival on the road and took a 77-67 ICCAC victory at Loren Walker Arena.
Led by a career-high 30 points from sophomore guard Tyrese Nickelson, IHCC (2-1) clawed back from an eight-point first half deficit to trail by just a point at intermission, and led by no more than six in the second stanza.
"Tyrese was outstanding," said Plona. "He's helped us win big games before, but never in a leading role like he did tonight."
Trailing 57-54 with just 2:54 remaining in regulation, the Warriors took advantage of a technical foul on Southwestern (1-2) and Nickelson cashed in on two of what would be a string of six-straight makes he would have from the charity stripe in the waning moments to force the extra stanza.
After surrendering an easy layup off the opening tip of OT to go down, 62-60, the Warriors went on a 17-5 run over the five-minute extra period to escape with what Plona described as an important win for his program.
"That's was as much passion as I can remember for a third game of the season," said Plona. "We've been through a lot over the past year together. I love our guys and I love that this game means so much to our fan base."
"Our guys dug deep to a place they didn't even know they had."
For the second straight night out, Tyem Freeman continued to show he's a force to be reckoned with as the Springfield, Missouri native had 24 points to complement Nickelson's career night.
"We thought he could be one of the best players in junior college," noted Plona on his athletic freshman guard. "He showed that tonight because he probably was the best player on the floor. He's a special talent, and he did whatever was asked of him tonight."
Freshman Taj Anderson was the only other Warrior in double figures as the Queens, New York product had 10 points.
Plona was quick to praise his troops in the postgame, noting that after last year's abrupt end to the season with the oncoming pandemic that this group has to find a way to carve out its own momentum.
"I've had to talk with guys like Tyrese and Chris (Payton) about the fact that we've got to create new magic this season. We have to make new moments, and I think we did that tonight with the effort of all of our guys," Plona added.
On a night where preseason all-American Chris Payton was held to just one highlight-reel follow up slam dunk in the overtime, it was imperative that other players stepped up in earning the win.
"Curtis Jones is the glue to our team… the quarterback. He keeps us together and is our leader on the floor. Gabe Oliveria and Chris Payton did a great job protecting the rim. Theo Bourgois, Levar Williams, Taj Anderson and Braxton Bayless all stepped up in important moments. It was just a great group win all around," Plona added.
In a scary moment, Payton was hurt with just over a minute left in overtime after he took a hard spill on his backside after being undercut on a rebound attempt. Plona reports that his star forward will probably be sore for some time, but that Payton should be ok in the long run.
IHCC will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at the Hellyer Center as the Warriors play host to NIACC (0-3) at 3 p.m.