Ottumwa, IA – No. 14 Indian Hills Men's Basketball jumped all over visiting Missouri State University – West Plains on Friday night to roll to a 86-75 victory at the Hellyer Center. The Warriors move to 2-0 on the year after picking up the victory in the team's home opener as part of the fourth annual Iowa-Missouri Challenge.
The Warriors saw four different players go for double-figures, led by freshman Amarion Nimmers' (Rock Island, IL/Rock Island) game-high 17 points, including 15 in the opening half. Sophomore Trevion LaBeaux (Waterloo, IA/Ames) added 16 points while Braden Sparks (Villa Rica, GA/Mercer) chipped in 14. Freshman Kheni Briggs (Kannapolis, NC/Charleston Southern) tallied his first-career double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Indian Hills came out firing in front of its home crowd for the first time this season. The Warriors used a 10-0 run to open the night and eventually led by as many as 27 in the opening half. An efficient shooting performance in the first frame, highlighted by an 8-14 performance from three-point range, saw Indian Hills take a 54-32 lead at the break and never looked back.
As a team, the Warriors used a sizable 52-38 rebounding margin, including a 19-13 edge on the offensive glass to contribute to the win, Indian Hills' 25 all-time victory over the Grizzlies in 30 meetings. Indian Hills also converted 75.0 percent (15-20) of its free throws on the night.
Nimmers put home the first basket of the season at the Hellyer Center and the Warrior rout was on. William Buegre-Kassi (Pontoise, France/Albert Thomas), Davontae Hall (Chicago, IL/Hyde Park), and Nimmers contributed a series of three-point shots in the opening seven minutes to push the lead to 18-3. Sparks and Briggs got in on the mix from beyond the arc before a highlight-reel dunk from Chris Mpaka (Kinsasha, Congo/Frank Phillips) rocked the Hellyer Center. Eight different Warriors contributed in the scoring column in the first half, including six that connected on a three-point shot before the halftime intermission.
Home sweet Hellyer��
— Indian Hills Basketball (@ihccbasketball) November 11, 2023
Nimmers to Mpaka has the crowd rockin' in our home opener! 54-32 at the break��
Tune in �������� on @GoHillsTv!#WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/EqDgE2TGuI
Sparks had the hot hand to open the second frame, scoring six points in the opening three minutes as the Warriors continued its offensive surge. Indian Hills maintained its lead of at least 20 points throughout the early goings of the second half, and eventually led by 29 on a three-point shot from LaBeaux with 7:08 to play and ran away with the victory.
Hosting the Iowa-Missouri Challenge for the first time in the four-year existence of the classic, the Warriors joined Moberly Area Community College (MO), State Fair Community College (MO) and Triton College (IL) to secure wins on the opening day.
The Warriors are back in action on the final day of the Iowa-Missouri Challenge Saturday against No. 20 nationally ranked Moberly Area. The Greyhounds scored an 80-71 victory over No. 12 Southeastern in the 5:00 PM game Friday night.
Saturday's additional contests feature Marshalltown Community College vs. Three Rivers College (MO) at 1:00 PM, Missouri State-West Plains vs. Triton at 3:00 PM, and State Fair vs. Southeastern at 5:00 PM. Purchase tickets to Saturday's matchups here: INDIAN HILLS MEN'S BASKETBALL TICKETS
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