No. 13 Indian Hills downs MCC for eighth straight win

OTTUMWA, Iowa – No. 13 Indian Hills Community College rolled to their eighth straight win Monday with a 92-59 win over the McCook Community College men.

The Warriors (24-5) had already clinched the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) regular season and are set to host the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 11 DI championship. IHCC is 16-1 at home this season. Iowa Western has won at least a share of 16 consecutive ICCAC regular season titles, including 13 outright championships during the stretch.

"They are a top 15 team for a reason and are 24-7 and 16-1 at home for a reason," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl. "They are extremely talented and when you aren't tough and don't box out or play with an edge, you give yourself literally no chance."

MCC, now, 10-18 on the year, will now turn its attention the Region IX South standings and focus on a pair of weekend matchups at home to decide where the Indians will be seeded for the Region 9 post-season tournament – anywhere between third and sixth place.

"I'm hoping we take some of the positives we had in the second half and can carry that over to Friday and Saturday as those are two huge games for us," said Brandl.

On Monday Indian Hills trailed briefly at 6-4 early, but took the lead 4:22 into the game and never relented. The Warriors led 44-20 at halftime.

"In the first half we got blitzed and just weren't ready for them," said Brandl. "In the second half we showed some fight and were a lot better."

Indian Hills shot 47.2 percent from the field, made 11 of 29 three-pointers (37.9 percent) and went 13 of 22 from the line (59.1 percent.

The Warriors outrebounded MCC 53-29.

MCC shot 38.1 percent from the field, made four of 23 shots from the 3-point line (17.4 percent) and went six of 12 from the free-throw line (50 percent).

Freshman Louie Tucker (Bristol, England) scored 17 points and led the Indians with seven rebounds. He was four of seven from the 3-point line. Sophomore Ty Foster (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 15 points.

Sophomores Ridley Shema (London, England) and Brandon Kabuya Mpoyi (Paris, France) both scored nine points.

"We also just need to get healthy – we've been banged up all year and tonight was no different – but there are no excuses," said Brandl. "We just need to be better and put a full game together because I thought we were good at times in the second half which was encouraging to see."

MCC (4-6 in Region 9 South) will close out the regular season at home this weekend.

On Friday MCC plays the second-place team in Region 9 South, Trinidad State (8-2 in the region and 19-7 overall). That men's only game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. MCC sophomores will be honored prior to the game.

On Saturday the Indians play Otero Junior College (4-6, 11-16) at 4 p.m.