Ottumwa, IA – No. 5 nationally ranked Indian Hills Men's Basketball suffered a 63-60 defeat to Southeastern Community College to fall in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Championship Saturday night at the Hellyer Center.
The loss drops the Warriors to 27-4 on the year as the team will now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to the upcoming NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, KS March 20-25. Southeastern advances to the NJCAA North Central District Championship against North Dakota State College of Science on Saturday, March 11 for an automatic berth to the national tournament.
Freshman Trevion LaBeau (Waterloo, IA/Ames) led the Warriors with 12 points off the bench on 5-6 shooting. LaBeaux also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the loss. David Jones (Sacramento, CA/Panola) added 10 points for the Warriors.
Sophomore Enoch Kalambay (Gatineau, Canada/Orangeville Prep) scored nine points with five rebounds and three steals.
After building a 36-26 halftime advantage, the Warriors saw their lead dwindle in the closing moments of the second half as Southeastern took its first lead in nearly 27 minutes, a 57-56 advantage with 2:17 to play. The two sides traded leads before the Blackhawks went ahead 62-58. The Warriors' final two three-point attempts to tie in the final seconds came up short.
Indian Hills held the Blackhawks to 32.1 percent shooting, but connected on just 31.0 percent of its field goal attempts.
The Warriors will look to make their second consecutive trip to the national tournament and 18th all-time with an at-large bid. The selection show for the NJCAA National Tournament will be held Sunday, March 12th at 6:00 PM. A watch party will be held in the Hellyer Center Reception Room.
