Hutchinson, KS – The Indian Hills Men's Basketball team rallied from a halftime deficit to upend Wallace State Community College (AL) 63-58 in the second round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Basketball Championship on Tuesday. The Warriors advance to the quarterfinal round on Wednesday night.
The fifth-seeded Warriors, trailing by eight at the halftime break to No. 21 seed Wallace State, outscored the Lions by 13 over the final 20 minutes to pull away for the postseason victory in its opening contest of the 2024 tournament. With the win, Indian Hills secured its 30th all-time victory at the national tournament and advance to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.
SURVIVE & ADVANCE – @ihccbasketball outscored upset-minded @WallaceStHoops by thirteen in the second half to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit to take their first contest in the second round of the @NJCAABasketball Men's D1 National Championships in Hutchinson, KS, 63-58.… pic.twitter.com/a9rUA8HcF8
— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) March 26, 2024
Despite a season-low 18 points in the opening half, the Warriors used an efficient second half to knock off the upset-minded Lions. Sophomores Davontae Hall (Chicago, IL/Hyde Park), Braden Sparks (Villa Rica, GA/Mercer), and Trevion LaBeaux (Waterloo, IA/Ames) combined for 38 of the team's 45 second half points to push the Warriors to victory. Hall posted 15 points in the second half alone to cap the night with a team-high 19 points.
LaBaeux posted 15 points, including 12 in the second stanza while Sparks scored all 11 points in the final half of play. Sophomore Chris Mpaka (Kinshasha, Congo/Frank Phillips) tallied a game-high 13 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass as the Warriors outrebounded the Lions 39-34 in the win.
The win proved to be the Warriors' 11th opening round victory in 19 all-time appearances at the national tournament. Tuesday's victory sets up a showdown with No. 13 Odessa College (TX) in Wednesday's quarterfinal bout, the second consecutive year the two teams will meet in the round of eight. Indian Hills knocked off the Wranglers in a 79-75 overtime thriller last year to advance to the semifinals.
Tuesday's matchup saw the two sides shoot an equal 39.7 percent from the floor as each squad shot 23-58 overall. The Warriors posted a 78.6 percent clip (11-14) from the free throw line while the Lions managed to go just 5-13 (38.5 percent) from the stripe which proved to be the difference maker. The Warriors outscored Wallace State 34-18 in the paint and tallied 14 points off nine Lion turnovers. The Warriors committed just eight turnovers in the contest, the second-fewest in a game this year.
The opening half favored the Lions as the NJCAA Region 23 champions Wallace State jumped out to a 9-2 advantage over the Warriors. The Indian Hills offense came to life with an 11-0 spurt of their own thanks to five quick points from Amarion Nimmers (Rock Island, IL/Iowa) to jump on top 13-10. The Lions bounced back with another run of their own and eventually pulled ahead for a 26-18 halftime advantage, holding Indian Hills to just 1-10 from three-point range.
Wallace State took an early double-digit lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Warriors stayed within striking distance. William Beugre-Kassi (Pontoise, France/Albert Thomas) and Sparks connected on back-to-back three-point shots midway through the frame to even the score at 37-all. Indian Hills took its first lead of the second half on a layup from LaBeaux at the 8:05 mark for a 43-41 advantage.
The Warriors extended the lead by as many as five, only to see the Lions claw back to take a 47-46 lead. From there on out, the Warriors relied on its national tournament veterans Hall and LaBeaux who combined for 12 consecutive points and 13 of the final 15 over the closing minutes to lead the Warriors to the win.
Indian Hills will now turn its attention to Odessa, a team that has picked up two wins to open this year's national tournament. The Wranglers defeated No. 20 Trinidad State College (CO) 81-52 on Sunday night before upsetting No. 4 seed Vincennes University (IN) 58-56 Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday night's contest, set for a 5:00 PM tip on ESPN+, will be the third all-time meeting at the national tournament between the Warriors and Wranglers. Along with last year's thriller, the two sides previously met in 1997 and 1993.
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TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: 2024 NJCAA DI Men's Basketball Championship
