Ottumwa, IA – No. 1 Indian Hills earned its 12th consecutive victory to open up the year as the Warriors topped visiting Sauk Valley Community College (IL) 71-67 at the Hellyer Center on Friday night.
Sophomore Eddiean Tirado (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Miami Triple Threat) led the way for the Warriors with a season-high 19 points. Tirado came off the bench and connected on five of eight three-point shots while going 4-4 from the free throw line to pace the top-ranked team in the nation. Tirado added three rebounds and three assists in the victory.
Tirado for 3��
— GoHillsTV (@GoHillsTv) December 3, 2022
Tirado scores his fourth Morgan's Corner 3-Pointer of the night bringing the score to 54-50! Warriors lead with about 9 minutes to go in the ball game! pic.twitter.com/aEjvl8UKSt
Sophomore Enoch Kalambay (Gatineau, Canada/Orangeville Prep) added 12 points for the Warriors while freshman Trevion LaBeaux (Waterloo, IA/Ames) poured in 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight boards. LaBeaux has reached double-figures in three consecutive games now.
After the Skyhawks netted the first two points of the game, the Warriors jumped out to a marginal lead in the early goings of Friday's interstate matchup. Tirado connected on back-to-back three-point shots to push the Warrior lead to 16-6. A third three from Tirado in the first 10 minutes of action extended the lead to 24-10 and the Warriors pushed the advantage to as many as 19 in the opening half. The Warriors took a 38-23 lead into the halftime intermission.
The double-digit lead remained as a Don McHenry (Milwaukee, WI/Hawaii-Hilo) hit a jumper to give Indian Hills a 50-36 lead at the 15:25 mark of the second half. The home team slowly saw its lead dwindle as the Skyhawks brought the contest to within one, 54-53 with under eight to play. A 17-4 run from Sauk Valley was quieted by a corner three from Tirado, his fifth of the night.
The Skyhawks managed to tie the game at 61-all with 4:29 remaining in the contest, but the Warrior defense stepped up in the closing minutes and allowed just four field goal attempts the rest of the way as Sauk Valley connected on just one of those attempts.
Indian Hills connected on its final eight free throw attempts to close out the game vs. the Skyhawks. As a team, the Warriors finished the night 21-25 from the charity stripe, the team's fifth game this season shooting 83.0 percent or better from the line in a contest. On the year, the Warriors boast the 18th best free throw shooting team in the nation at 74.7 percent.
The Warriors tied a season-low with just eight turnovers committed on the night. The Warriors have turned the ball over less than 10 times in four of the team's last five contests. On the defensive front, Indian Hills forced 15 Skyhawk miscues while turning those into 20 points. Sauk Valley failed to score a point off an Indian Hills turnover on Friday night.
Sophomore David Jones (Sacramento, CA/Panola) produced a solid effort off the bench for the Warriors, going 3-3 from the field while grabbing four rebounds and blocking three shots.
Indian Hills is back in action Saturday afternoon at the Hellyer Center for a 3:00 PM matchup vs. Kankakee Community College.
WARRIORS ESCAPE SKYHAWKS – @ihccbasketball fought off upset-minded Sauk Valley tonight at the Hellyer Center as the No. 1-rated Warriors edged the SkyHawks, 71-67. Eddiean Tirado led IHCC off the bench with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from distance.#WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/SMBJ2qNw5U
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) December 3, 2022
