Indian Hills notches huge win over Reivers

BY IAN SMITH, Courier sports writer

January 21, 2008 01:10 pm

— OTTUMWA — Indian Hills ratcheted up every aspect of its game Saturday night against Iowa Western.
The offense? Check. The defense? Check. The crowd? Check.
Featuring an aggressive style, the Warriors topped No. 13 Iowa Western 68-62 in the critical Region XI opener. The Reivers came into the game 17-2 on the season.
Indian Hills put together its best spurt of basketball during the last three minutes of the first half. The Warriors outscored Iowa Western 14-2 to take a 31-25 lead and more importantly, all of the momentum heading into the break.
“We competed on every play,” Indian Hills coach Jeff Kidder said. “We certainly made some mistakes on both ends of the floor, but we held them to 25 points in the first half.
“I was really happy with the way the kids competed. We told them there’s a difference between playing hard and competing. Tonight they competed to win on every possession.”
Trailing 21-12, Indian Hills (15-5) started to erase any potential hangover from its last outing — a 78-73 home loss to State Fair on Jan. 7.
Dwight Buycks made back-to-back buckets — the second on a reverse layup — to jump start the Warriors and cut the deficit to 23-21. Buycks scored a team-high 16 points in the game.
Sensing Indian Hills’ change in demeanor, Iowa Western switched its defense to a 3-2 zone.
Big Mistake.
Dwight Hardy drilled a 3-pointer in the left corner, then raced down court for a layup to give Indian Hills a 26-23 advantage. On the Warriors next possession, Buycks found Leon Powell for an alley-oop dunk.
Hardy punctuated the flurry with a 3-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded. The Bronx, N.Y. native, scored eight points in the last 90 seconds and finished with 13 points in the game.
“We came out and were taking some bad shots, not rebounding — doing things we weren’t supposed to do,” forward LaRon Dendy said. “After that, coach Kidder got on us in a timeout. We came out and did what we had to do.”
Lost in the exciting run was the shutdown defense being played by the Warriors. The Reivers came into the game averaging nearly 87 points per game, but were held to just 62. Indian Hills had 16 steals and forced 22 turnovers.
The Warriors’ bench played a huge role in the dogged effort. Xavier Collier, Damian Windham and Rico Harris combined for only 11 points, but each gave valuable minutes off the bench.
“I thought that [Iowa Western] got tired before we did,” Kidder said. “I thought that we were in pretty good condition.”
A pair of dominant forwards controlled the paint in the second half for Indian Hills. Powell grabbed an offensive rebound and made the layup to give the Warriors a 40-34 lead. Later, Dendy followed a Powell tip-in with one of his own to push the Indian Hills lead to a game-high 16 points.
Powell tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds in the game. Dendy contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“I just wanted to play tough,” Powell said. “This was going to be a dog fight. You have to play hard. We tried to go after every rebound.”
Kidder credited the duo for their toughness on the boards.
“[Powell and Dendy] played like they practiced,” the third-year coach said. “They were both a force tonight. Those two guys really gave us a great lift.”
Iowa Western fought until the end, closing the gap to 59-54. After a few tense moments, Indian Hills iced the game at the free-throw line. The Warriors only made 20-40 attempts in the game, but they outscored the Reivers 20-8 at the line — a key to the win.
The victory gives Indian Hills an important one-game advantage over Iowa Western in the Region XI standings. The two teams are battling for home-court advantage in the Region XI tournament. The Warriors travel to Council Bluffs on Feb. 9.
Indian Hills plays at Moberly this Tuesday.

Indian Hills 68, Iowa Western 62
Indian Hills (68) — Dwight Hardy 13, Leon Powell 14, LaRon Dendy 10, Dwight Buycks 16, Rico Harris 8, Xavier Collier 2, Chris Vines 2, Damian Windham 2, Aleksander Vuletic 1. Totals 23-51 20-40 68.
3-point goals — 2-4 (Hardy 2). Rebounds — 36 (Dendy 10, Powell 10). Assists — 6 (Buycks 3). Steals — 16 (Hardy 5). Blocks — 7 (Dendy 3). Total fouls — 15. Turnovers — 24.
Iowa Western (62) — Derwin Kitchen 12, Lloyd Phillips 17, Larnard Bryant 14, Ray Miller 8, Chris Poellnitz 7, Anthony Williams 4. Totals 25-69 8-12 62.
3-point goals — 4-20 (Phillips 4). Fouled out — Tyler Troupe. Rebounds — 32 (Troupe 7). Assists — 10 (Kitchen 5). Steals — 11 (Kitchen 5). Blocks — 4 (Kitchen 3). Total fouls — 28. Turnovers — 22.

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