Ottumwa, IA – No. 12 Indian Hills Basketball closed out the first half of its season with a convincing 82-42 victory over Seward County Community College (KS) at the Hellyer Center on Thursday night. The Warriors have now won four in a row to improve to 10-3 overall on the year.
The Warriors ran past the Saints with a 24-point second half advantage to secure its first-ever win over Seward County in just the second all-time matchup between the two clubs. Eight different players found the scoring column on Thursday night, led by freshman Amarion Nimmers' (Rock Island, IL/Iowa) season-high 19 points.
Indian Hills held Seward County to just 26.6 percent shooting from the floor and 17.4 percent from three-point range, the team's best defensive marks of the season. Offensively, the Warriors connected on 50.0 percent (33-66) of its shots on the night, the team's fourth time this season hitting at least half of their shots in a contest.
Nimmers put together a season-best performance by going 7-11 from the floor, including 3-6 from three-point range for his sixth double-digit scoring effort of the year. Davontae Hall (Chicago, IL/Hyde Park) tallied 17 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Hall is now averaging 14.8 points per game over the team's last four outings.
Kheni Briggs (Kannapolis, NC/Charleston Southern) scored 10 first half points to finish with 14 while Braden Sparks (Villa Rica, GA/Mercer) recorded his ninth double-digit scoring game of the season with 10 points.
Sophomore Chris Mpaka (Kinsasha, Congo/Frank Phillips) added nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds for the Warriors. Mpaka has tallied 28 rebounds over the past two games.
The Warriors scored the game's first seven points, including back-to-back three-point shots from Briggs and Hall to open the night. The Saints pulled within two, 14-12 at the 11:05 mark before the Warriors went on a 12-0 spurt to pull away. Indian Hills scored 11 of the final 13 points of the first half to build a 37-21 lead at the break as the defense limited Seward County to just 1-12 three-point shooting through the first 20 minutes of play.
Briggs and Hall sparked the offense to open the second half as the two guards combined for an 11-0 run to start the frame. Seward County was held to just two points through the first 6:21 of action to give Indian Hills a comfortable 20-point advantage. The defense held the Saints to just six points over the final 8:22 to hold its opponents to a season-low 42 points. The 21 points allowed in each half were also a season-best for the Warrior defense.
Indian Hills now hits the holiday break with a 16-day layoff. The Warriors return to action at the Hellyer Center December 30 for a nonconference matchup against Cloud County Community College (KS) at 7:00 PM on December 30.
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